


✠ King's Lost Prince ✠

by Hyperionova



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Assassin - Freeform, Assassins & Hitmen, Bondage, Fantasy, Gore, Half-Sibling Incest, Incest, Kings & Queens, Let's just say it has everything that can trigger you so skip this story, M/M, Magic, Princes, Rimming, Royalty, Sexual Slavery, Slavery, consider yourselves warned, don't read it, kingdom - Freeform, lots of rimming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-26 22:31:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 33
Words: 85,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7592749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyperionova/pseuds/Hyperionova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A vengeful assassin Prince and a sadistic, cold-blooded King. The half-brothers' shattering adventure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. FOREWORD

 

He is the rightful heir to the Kingdom. The crown and the throne are snatched away from him due to a split-second unjust villainy plotted by his own brother, whom he trusted with his whole life. Kai is the bastard son of the Queen, who has no prospects of ever claiming the throne so long the King and his Prince live. Sehun is the young Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Havegnia, whose his entire fate changes when his half-brother executes an overnight coup to assert power over the throne. He crowns himself as the King, the supreme ruler of Havegnia at the age of 17 upon assassinating the King in his sleep in cold blood and locking the Queen and Sehun away. With great sacrifice, the Queen manages to liberate the 9-year-old Sehun and implores him to run as far away and as fast as he can.

That was the last time Sehun had seen the castle he was born in and his beloved mother. Taken in by a group of Vagabond Slayers, Sehun trains for years to become the most notorious assassin, with only one incentive—return to Havegnia to reclaim his throne as the rightful heir, save his mother and kill the traitor he once called his brother. With the fire for vengeance burning within him, he bends over backwards, doing his damnedest to become an adroit assassin and upon reaching the age of 18, he returns to Havegnia.

Everything goes according to plan until he finds out the King, his half-brother, the man who preens on his glorious winning and procurement, is a man who is almost indestructible. If there's anyone who can dauntlessly stand against Sehun, it's Kai alone.

* * *

As the bastard of the Queen, Kai knows he has no chance of becoming the King with Sehun and his father in the way. He's a ruthless King who has very little mercy for the ones below him. Married to the beautiful Princess of Triyan, Kai has more power than any other King in the world. Even after securing his position on the throne, it isn't enough for him. He wants more. He wants to remain King forever, especially since he knows the young Prince still lives.

On the mystical land, he has the opportunity to gain immortality, but only with great cost. All he needs to do is procure the Six Spirabiliz: consume the Fruit of Cael from the land of Jehovah, bathe in the Lake of Aevitas, find the Ring of Iugis, hold the heart of a lion, consume the tear of a Nympharum, and the last Spirabiliz will uncover itself. All that he needs now is an adept bulwark to accompany him to find the Six Spirabiliz and the Vagabond Slayer falls right into his trap. In return, Kai is willing to offer the assassin his life and freedom. Only after enslaving the assassin as his personal thrall and wrecking every inch of the boy's body.

Without even the knowledge of Sehun being the Crown Prince, Kai embarks on a murderous journey with him.

* * *

 

**READ THE WARNING AND DON'T CONTINUE IF ANY OF IT TRIGGERS YOU!**

WARNING: Smut, _rough_ smut, bondage, dub/non-con, incest, kinks. Violence (!!!) Ruthless, cruel Kai. Ruthless, cruel Sehun. Purely fictional (duh). Yes, Kai is married, so expect cheating. 

 

 


	2. PRELUDE

A lightning cracks across the threatening sombre night sky marked by overcasts. The hungry, fat clouds churn outside before a peal of thunder shakes the ground and he mewls in fear, shrinking away from the window. “Mummy,” he whispers in the dark, albeit he is alone in his ridiculously vast chamber. “Mummy,” Sehun calls again in a breath, hiding beneath the eiderdown, sinking into his bed. He peeps over the eiderdown and looks to the window. The sky is split by the merciless lightning, which is followed by the murderous roar of a thunder. “No,” he gasps and scrambles off the bed. He hurries to the door as fast as his tiny feet could carry him and tip-toes to reach the doorknob. He struggles to twist the knob and he glances back to the window through which he sees the fat clouds bursting into a furious sob. Sehun wants to cry. It’s too dark and it’s too cold.

The door springs open and Sehun falls back to the floor on his bum with a thud. “Sehun,” the tall silhouette rasps and Sehun scurries onto his feet.

“Kai!” he cries when he recognizes the figure and throws himself onto his brother, hugging his waist so tight that he does not plan to ever let him go.

“My word! What has got into you?” Kai asks.

His brother is so tall, so big and so powerful. Sehun feels safe in his arms. He feels as though no one and no storm can harm him so long he’s with his brother. “I’ve the collywobbles in my tummy,” he mutters, burying his face into Kai’s stomach, tightening his short arms around his brother’s lean body. “I can’t sleep.”

A soft laugh is surprised out of Kai. “That so?” he unlocks Sehun’s arms around him and crouches to ground before he lifts Sehun up in his arms. “I knew you couldn’t. Come on now. Back to bed.”

“I don’t want to sleep alone.” The downpour is brutal and Sehun has always hated thunders.

“I’ll be here with you until the storm passes,” his brother assures him as he settles Sehun on the bed.

“B-but—”

“Will I ever let anyone hurt you?” Kai asks in a gentle voice as he tucks Sehun back into the eiderdown.

“No,” Sehun smiles. A thunder startles him and he shudders hard against his brother, clinging onto him. “Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not,” Kai climbs into the bed and leans against the headboard. “I’m here. Now, sleep. You have a playdate with the Princess Tia tomorrow.”

“Yuck!” Sehun spits, curling beside Kai and wraps himself with his brother’s heat. “I don’t like her. I don’t like playing with her. She’s very… girly.”

“Why?” Kai chuckles. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She’s… Well, she is,” he murmurs. “But I don’t fancy her.”

“You will when you grow up.”

“I will never! She’s very arrogant, brother.”

“That’s because you always pick on her,” Kai laughs, rubbing his knuckles into Sehun’s scalp. “I know you secretly like it when she visits you.”

“I do not!” Sehun nestles his head into Kai’s chest. “Do you fancy any princesses, Kai?”

“Hmm,” Kai drones, resting his cheek on Sehun’s head. “Maybe. But Princess Tia is very fond of you, Sehun.”

“She’s always telling me how I should _behave_. She says I shouldn’t pick my nose.”

“Well, you probably shouldn’t do that in front of a princess.”

“Will I have to get married to her and have babies when we’re older?” Sehun frowns. Tia is kind and gentle. But she’s a princess and she’s very bossy. She loves shoving Sehun around and is always asking him to kiss her hand or take her handkerchief. She also smells like roses, which is nice.

“I suppose,” Kai mutters into Sehun’s hair. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Really?”

“Really, but a king always needs his Queen.”

“I don’t want to be the king, then. You can be the king.”

“Oh, it doesn’t work like that,” Kai laughs.

 

~*~

 

She is staring at him. She isn’t glaring because princesses don’t glare, but she is definitely staring and Sehun feels the discomfort from her idle gaze. “What?” he asks, rather annoyed and takes a bite of the Honeybread.

“You eat quite messily and you’ve got crumbs on your face,” Tia says and folds the napkin on her lap. Sehun freezes with the bread half masticated in his mouth and throws a scowl in her direction.

“Oh,” he chucks the bread in his hand to Tia, who screams and jumps to her feet from the chair. Sehun lets out a hearty laugh, licking the sugary nectar on the corner of his lips.

“Why, you filthy little—” she lurches forward with an empty teacup and that’s when her lady-in-waiting holds her back.

Sehun continues to guffaw, hugging his stomach and sticks his tongue out at the Princess. “Would you want taste my snot?!” he shoves his finger into his nose and twists it.

“Ew! Your buffoonery is insufferable! I hate you!” Tia screeches and hurls her handkerchief to Sehun’s face before she angrily stomps away. Sehun’s laughter dies when he sees his father gawking at him from the garden.

“Sehun, come here,” he calls out and Sehun heaves a sigh, rising from the garden chair. He walks over to his father and bows his head. Kai has his hands behind him as he frowns down at Sehun.

“Good morning, Father.”

“What did I tell about making a sport of the Princess? You are supposed to be a good host, not heap scorn on her!” his father rebukes and Sehun cringes. “At this rate the Triyanian King will never send her daughter to play with you.”

“I am okay with that, Father. I don’t want to play with her. I want to learn fencing with Kai!” Sehun whines.

“A king should be adept in all arenas,” his father states firmly. “You disappoint me, son. Enough with your foolish antics!” With that, he enters the courtyard, shaking his head.

Sehun hangs his head, jutting his lower lip out to his chagrin. “Chin up,” Kai says and Sehun looks up at his brother. Smiling pleasantly, Kai presses a chunk of sweetmeat in Sehun’s hand. “Say, you want to go horse riding later?”

Sehun lights up immediately. “Oh, yes! Can we take Filo?!”

“Of course.” Ruffling Sehun’s hair, Kai wends his way past Sehun, hurrying after the King. Sehun pops the sweetmeat into his mouth and moans a little when it melts on his tongue.

 

~*~

 

A sharp clatter and a brutal shake rouse him. Sehun’s heart pounds in his chest when his eyes fly open and he is met with the darkness of his chamber. There are hands clamping his shoulders down, shaking them furiously. “Sehun,” he hears a raspy whisper and it takes him a moment to realize he isn’t dreaming.

“Mummy?” he mumbles sleepily, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand.

“Sehun, wake up,” his mother quakes him awake and pulls him upright. She is sniffing and sobbing.

“Mummy, what’s wrong?” he presses his hand to his mother wet, tear-stained cheek. When his vision clears, he discerns the guards who are towering behind his mother. They have their crossbows and swords pointed at his mother. “Mummy?” Sehun whispers, crawling closer to her.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs, wrapping Sehun up in her arms. He doesn’t know what is happening. “It’s going to be okay, Sehun. It will be okay.”

“Mummy, I don’t understand.”

“On your feet,” one of the guards orders and Sehun scowls at him. How dare he speak that way to the Queen and her Prince?! His mother rises to her full height and Sehun slides off the bed. He clings onto the skirt of his mother’s gown and hides behind it as the guards usher them out of the chamber.

“What’s going on, Mummy?” he asks in a whisper as they are lead down the hallway.

His mother cups the back of his head and soothes the strands of his hair. “I need you to be the brave boy you are right now, all right? Remember what your father always said. Heart of a lion, will of an eagle—”

“Strength of a king.” Sehun finishes.

They enter his parents’ chamber and Sehun’s heart jumps in excitement when he spots Kai perched on the trunk at the foot of the bed in the chamber. However, his heart instantly sinks when his eyes fall on the sword in Kai’s hand. His brother is wiping the blade clean of the blood with a smug, complacent look etched on his face. The metallic stench stings Sehun’s nose and he winces. Kai keeps his gaze on the blade he’s cleaning as Sehun’s shifts to the pool of blood on the floor. His body turns stone cold when he notices the body floating in the flood of blood. “Father…” he breathes out, utterly fazed with his eyes gorging the motionless body on the floor. Sehun paralyses and his mind turns completely blank. “No… Papa?” he murmurs with tears welling up in his eyes.

His mother holds him closer to her as tears trickle down her cheeks unchecked. “You are an ungrateful dog,” she furiously spits at Kai. “Your end will be ghastly, I can promise you that.”

Kai finally brings his head up and looks to the Queen. His lips quirk into a smug smirk as he rises to his feet. He looks scary, Sehun curls behind his mother. Kai sheathes his sword and crosses over the King, who lays lifeless on the ground. “Really, Mother?” Kai scoffs. “I’d love to see that. Of course, my own mother would want to relish the demise of her own bastard child she had begotten out of shame.”

“I have never loved you any less! And neither had he,” her eyes sadly flick to the fallen King.

Kai snorts with a victorious expression. “Bring them away to the dungeons and lock them up in the oubliette.”

“I hope you rot in Hell,” she says, holding her head up with pride.

The guards haul them away and Sehun sticks to his mother with tears flowing down his cheeks. “Mummy, what happened to Papa?” he whimpers, although he already has an idea of what had happened, but he doesn’t want to believe it. “What has… Kai done?”

“He has killed your father,” his mother says sternly, keeping her gaze straight ahead.

“No. No, he couldn’t have,” Sehun gasps, pathetically looking up at his mother, gripping her skirt. “Mummy.”

“Don’t be afraid, Sehun. _I’m_ still alive. I won’t let him lay even a finger on you,” she says through her grit teeth and Sehun has never seen that sort of determined look on his mother’s face.

Sehun doesn’t know what he should do. He wants to stop crying, but he couldn’t. The guards lock the bars of the oubliette and Sehun sobs even harder. As soon as the guards are out of sight, the Queen drops to her knees before Sehun and she clasps her hands to Sehun’s arms. “Now, listen to me very carefully, Sehun.”

Sehun nods, blinking his watery eyes as the beads of tears roll down his burning face. “Mummy,” he snivels, fiercely wiping his cheeks.

“Sehun, Sehun. Look at me, darling,” she whispers. “I need you to be very brave now. I love you, do you hear me. Mummy loves you so much.”

Someone shows out of the sudden and Sehun shudders upon seeing the man. He recognizes him. It’s the cook from the kitchen. “Your Highness,” the cook calls, hastily unlocking the padlock.

“Sehun,” his mother grabs Sehun’s face in her hands. “You will need to go with him.”

“No, Mummy,” he cries.

“Yes, you will have to. You must do as I say. When you’re out of the castle, you have to run as fast as you can and don’t stop anywhere until you’re far away from the castle. Hide from every royal guard and don’t ever trust anyone.”

“Mummy,” Sehun pounces onto her and hugs her, not wanting to let go. “No, Mummy. Please, don’t ask me to go.”

“You have to, my darling boy. He will kill you if you stay.” she weeps into Sehun’s shoulder and ferociously kisses the side of his head. “I love you, Sehun. I’m not sure if we’ll ever meet again, but if we will, I long for that day, holding onto my life, only to see you again. Go now, Sehun. Go!” she pulls back and nudges Sehun into the cook’s arms. The cook pulls Sehun up at once and nods his head once at the Queen.

“Mummy!” Sehun cries as the cook begins to jog in the direction of the narrow ladder that lead upwards. His mother clasps her hand to her mouth with tears sheening in her eyes and Sehun extends his arms back at her, crying silently. The cook ascends up the ladder.

“There you go, my Prince. Climb out,” the cook says, raising Sehun up towards the rabbit hole in the ceiling. It’s so small and narrow that for a moment, Sehun doesn’t think even he could fit through it. But he manages to climb out the hole and he grips onto the grass before he hauls his entire body out. “Go, run, Your Majesty,” the cook orders. “Run in the direction of the woods. They won’t find you there.”

Sehun nods his head and staggers to his feet. “Tell Mummy I will come back for her.”

“I will, Your Highness. Now, run.”

He bursts into a run immediately. The chapel bell tolls and chimes, and horns are blown. The night is inky dark and the moon isn’t blessing the world with its light tonight. Sehun blindly runs into the rosebushes. He hides behind a rosebush before he starts climbing up the vines on the curtainwall that borders the castle. The walls are short at the back of the castle.

When he jumps back to the ground, he twirls around, and sprints into the woods. He bolts for the cover of the trees until his feet are sore and numb. His eyes are hazy due to the tears and his lungs burn for air. There is a cacophony of noises in the background along with the bellow of Havegnia’s royal horn. Sehun gasps when he crashes the ground, tripping over a root. He doesn’t get up and curls into a ball, sobbing for air with his heart hammering against his chest.

 _No, no, no. Please, sweet Lady. Save my Mummy, save my father. Don’t let him hurt them. Please, please._ He prays as hard as he could, clenching his eyes tight and hugging his knees to his chest.

 

* * *

 

 

_Nine years later..._

In the Kingdom of Havegnia, where deadly plagues, mysterious magic and mystical creatures collide, where the stained blood of royalty rules and the rightful heir is lost, marvels often meet fates. A lost Prince. A sinned King. Where vengeance, greed, power, and love thrive. In the Kingdom of Havegnia, where brothers become rivals, where sons kill fathers, where the King’s lost Prince is bound to return to claim what is rightfully his.

His feet are splayed in their right positions. He looks up, raising his head slowly, fixing his target. His hand is firmly enveloped around the grip of his sabre. His eyes sharply narrows and he swings the blade in his hand, slicing the wind. Right when the sweat bead drops from his chin, the copper coin is tossed into the air and with a single strike of his sabre, he slashes the coin and the halved coin drops to the ground in bits.

He doesn’t freeze when he hears the footsteps. Like his heartbeats, the footsteps are steady and quiet. Clenching his teeth, he spins around, pivoting the sabre, but stops right when the blade is pressed to the side of his Master’s neck. “Stunning accuracy. Breath-taking indeed,” the old, grey-bearded man says with his arms locked at his back. His smile is preening on the victory of having Sehun moulded into the Slayer he wanted.

Sehun withdraws his sabre, swinging it in circles and bows down before his Master.

The Vagabond Slayer Master raises a hand to Sehun’s shoulder and he gives a curt nod of his head. “You are leaving today. May my blessing be with you, but you do not need it. You are ready now.”

Sehun bows again and presents the sabre to his Master.

“It is yours to keep. The Black Sabre has always chosen you and you are its master now,” the old man says and Sehun straightens up.

Sheathing the sabre, he waits until the Master has stormed out of the dojo. It has been a while since Sehun had uttered a word and he isn’t going to thank the Master now, even though he should. He is alive because of that man. He is where he is right now because of the mercy the Vagabond Slayer had shown him the day he had bought Sehun from the miser. However, he’d rather wait until he is entirely done with what he started all of this for.

He pulls his tunic off upon stepping out the back door of the dojo. He unbuckles the sheath belt and drops his sabre to the ground. He saunters over to the barrel of water and cups some water before splashing it on his face. Gripping the edge of the barrel, he stares into his reflection on the surface of water. His back muscles flex as his eyes rake the scars on his face. The scar that slices out from either side of his mouth almost extends to his ears. The scars have faded, but they are the constant reminder of Sehun’s vindictive motives. There is also a scar across his face starting from his left temple, dragging all the way down diagonally to the right side of his jaw, cutting through the bridge of his nose, and another long red scar on his left cheek, slicing through the scar of the corner of his mouth that once ripped his mouth open. Sehun clenches his eyes shut for a moment and sucks in a shaky breath. Not even his own mother will be able to recognize him with the face of a monster.

He steps away from the barrel and picks up the pitcher from the ground. His body is already bathed in sweat and the cold water uncomfortably sticks to his skin.

When he is done, he steps back into the dojo and pulls a black shirt and a pair of breeches on. After lacing the boots up, he drapes the black Guillotine scarf over his head and lower half of his face, covering his mouth and nose, leaving only his dark eyes to be visible. He sheathes his Black Sabre and shoves his daggers in his boots.

Closing his eyes, he draws his charcoal-inked fingers over his eyelids and all around his eyes. This is the day he will avenge his parents.

“Heart of a lion. Will of an eagle. Strength of a king,” he exhales to himself and flashes his eyes open. It’s about time the rightful King of Havegnia has returned.


	3. Chapter One

He isn’t sure if it is a fond memory which he holds dear or if it is a cruel reminder of everything that has happened to him. The town revels in opulent prosperity as its people rejoice every second of their peace. Havegnia is a prosperous Kingdom, preening on its wealth, health and security. Everything Sehun still remembers of the Kingdom has coupled in its good fortune and ease under the rule of their wrongful King. The Kingdom under the rule of Sehun’s father saw great speed and fortunate years. But looking at the townspeople and the villages he courses through, Havegnia is wallowing and basking in incomparable, sublime glory. Even in the mountains where Sehun had trained for years, news reached him of how magnificent their new, young King is. Little did they all know of their glorious King’s treachery and betrayal.

Songs and merry cavorts paint every town Sehun steps in. The commons live a fulfilling life and things seem to be a lot better than Sehun had initially expected. There is a wave of welcome everywhere, of course, the invitation isn’t extended to him. Dressed as an outsider, most of the people recognize him as a Vagabond and Sehun is certain some of them may even guess what sort of a Vagabond he is. They do not bother him and let him pass silently. He has no intention of hiding from them, because if he did, he would not let a single eye catch a sight of him.

After three nights, Sehun reaches the village closest to the Castle of Havegnia. He gazes to the fortress and its stronghold. A sharp tug at his heart makes him clench his fists. The thirst for vengeance gnaws at his soul. He’s so close. Banners of the King’s reign decorate the village, flags of his dominion hang on every building. None of this is supposed to be his. He, the bastard child of the Queen. He, the one Sehun’s father doted on the most. He, who was trusted by everyone. He, whom Sehun worshipped as a child.

Sehun closes his eyes and leans his back against a wall in the ginnel as frolicsome tune and lively cheers of the villagers fill the air of the night. They’re dancing around a fire, hooking arms with arms as the ladies lift their skirts to men who pull them into the shadows. Kai was his _brother_ , his protector, his saviour. Sehun hero-worshipped him and cried for him every time Kai went to settle border skirmish, but always returned with victory, much to the King’s joy. Sehun had his days with his father where he sat on the King’s lap and reads out a rhyme or two, and his father would reward him with sweeties. However, it was Kai that had been everyone’s hero at that time. Even Sehun’s own father, who had trusted Kai with everything. Sehun doesn’t recall much, but he is certain his father had spent more time with Kai, training him, nurturing him, and praising him more than he ever did with Sehun. How could Kai bring himself to cold-bloodedly kill the man who loved him like a son despite the disloyalty his Queen had showed him? How could Kai be so power-greedy that he was willing to kill the boy who had showered him with adoration? If Kai had wanted the throne that bad, Sehun would have handed it to him, although it was never his to give it away. Kai can never be King so long Sehun is alive. Sehun had been too young, too naïve, but every single memory is etched to his heart, fuelling the vengeance over the years.

Sehun looks down at his palms and breathes into the scarf that’s wrapped over his mouth. He had killed many men, many mercenaries, many bandits, but he only wants to honour the blood of one man in his hands. He wants to kill Kai in the worst, most painful way possible. He grips his Black Sabre sheathed at his hip and pulls away from the ginnel.

 

~*~

 

The castle’s stronghold is not impregnatable. The guards are rather lax, but Sehun doesn’t take the chance. He uses the path at the back, cutting through every guard that obstructs him. A clasp of his hand over the mouth and a silent lash across the throat are all that it takes, and Sehun finds himself inside the stronghold of the castle. The night and its shadows provide him the defence he needs. He’s here, he’s home. His rightful home, which was snatched away from his hands.

He sheathes the sabre and climbs up the wall of the tower. He had climbed mountains greater and taller than this tower. He stops midway, gripping onto a brick when he hears the faint chatter of guards below. As soon as they pass, Sehun clambers up the tower. When he reaches the strip of corridor that is adjoining two towers, he swings over the bricked railing and lands on his feet, grabbing the undivided attention of the guard on the corridor.

Alarmed, the guard launches his sword forward and with lesser effort, Sehun drives the black blade of his sabre through the guard’s throat and the blade juts out at the back of the guard’s neck. He yanks the sabre out and embraces the guard before carefully laying the man on the ground.

Sehun keeps his eyes peeled and his grip steady on the sabre, although the blade feels like a limb rather than a weapon. Crossing the corridor, he enters the tower. There are no guards here and he isn’t sure if the bastard King is dauntlessly unafraid and presumptuous or if he is foolish. His guards are nowhere near a match for half of what Sehun is. The lack of garrison baffles Sehun a little. It makes his job all too easy.

He keeps himself in the shadows as he finds his way to the King’s chamber. His father’s chamber. He doesn’t need to have a lucid memory to know where the King dwells. Everyone in this Kingdom probably knows that. The dwelling tower is on the other side of the castle. Sehun sheathes his sabre again and jumps out the window of the tower. He clings onto the ledge and swings before he releases, and lands on one of his knees and fists on the lower corridor that connects the tower to spire.

In a few more moments, he’d have his blade struck through the man who broke him apart.

 

 * * *

 

The scent of rosewater and sex cling in the air like a smog that suffocates windpipes. Kai stirs and rolls on his back before his eyes fling open to meet the dim, golden illumination of the candles in the otherwise dark chamber. Beside him, a brown-haired woman is gazing at him with languid, half-lidded eyes, her hair fountaining over her bare pink breasts. Kai suppresses an exhaustive groan and shifts his eyes to the other warm body that’s pressed against him under the eiderdown. The redhead grins up at him, sliding a hand down his stomach. “Are you awake? Shall we pleasure you once more, Your Highness?” the redhead purrs, leaning in to plant a kiss with her hot, pink lips on the crook of his neck.

“Get out,” Kai spits in a hoarse voice and the bed slaves look at him in confusion. But without a protest, they scurry off the bed and gather their gowns from the floor before they storm out of the chamber. Kai sits up and rubs his eyes on the hilt of his palms. “Astan!”

The liveried lackey comes running into the chamber with sweat glistening on his forehead. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Prepare a bath,” Kai orders, climbing out of the silken bed. “And where is Tia?”

“Her Highness prefers to stay in her study tonight, Your Excellency,” says the lackey in a trembling voice and when Kai’s lour shoots up at him, Astan looks as though he might soil his pants.

“Who gave her the liberty to not join me in bed tonight?” he rises to his feet and the lackey flushes purple.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. Her words were…” he trails off, hanging his head in horror.

“Speak out, Astan,” Kai growls. “What the hell did she say?”

“She would not bed with you while you are,” he swallows before saying, “ _fucking_ whores.”

Kai rolls his eyes hard at that. “Go. Prepare the bath.”

Bowing, Astan mutters a “yes, My King,” and hurries out of the chamber to call upon the servants. It isn’t his problem that his Queen doesn’t want to fuck him. It isn’t his problem that Tia loathes his guts no matter how much he tries to please her. If she doesn’t want to be fucked, then Kai will have to get creative.

As the ladies fill the vast pool in the chamber with ewers of warm water, the new boy servant brings forth a phial of oil. Kai gazes upon the young boy. He has pink cheeks, fully-bloomed lips and unblemished, fair skin. Undeniably beautiful indeed. “My King?” the boy servant exhales shyly. “Should I ask one of the ladies to offer you an embrocation?”

“Why the ladies?” Kai smirks at the servant, tipping the youthful boy’s chin. A pink blush spreads across the boy servant’s cheeks. “You’ll do.” He slides his fingers along the petite boy’s jaw and loves the way the boy shudders under his touch. “Leave us,” he orders the ladies and they bow before they leave the bathing chamber to the King and the servant.

He descends into the pool of water and props his elbows on the edge. The boy kneels behind him on the floor and presses his well-oiled, warm palms to Kai’s shoulders. Kai rolls his neck, eyes closed and moans quietly as the boy’s slender fingers crook over his shoulders, kneading the strained muscles. “Is this all right, Your Majesty?”

“Just fine. What is your name?”

The boy draws his hands along Kai’s extended arms before he lets them glide down Kai’s chest. “Dez, Your Highness.”

“Then, Dez, take your clothes off and climb into the water with me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

 * * *

 

Sehun only stops to catch a breath when he has reached the balcony of the King’s chamber. His heart suddenly hammers against his chest. For the first time in a long time, Sehun gives way to the trepidation. He isn’t scared, he hasn’t feared anything or anyone for years, but the thought of meeting the man who destroyed his life excites him. And the thought of driving his sabre through his chest even more.

~*~

_“Will Filo come with us today?” Sehun asks, clinging onto Kai’s extravagant riding clothes. Kai presses a hand to the back of Sehun’s head as he belts his sword’s sheath._

_“No, Sehun,” his brother says lovingly and drops to one of his knees. He claps his hands to Sehun’s arms and smiles. “Filo will not be going with us for a while.”_

_Sehun frowns. “Why?”_

_“She’s… having a baby.”_

_Shocked and appalled, Sehun grabs onto Kai’s outer jacket with his tiny hands. “No! Filo is a girl?!”_

_That surprises a laugh out of Kai and he tousles Sehun’s hair before he rises to his full height. He’s so tall. Sehun wants to be as tall as Kai when he’s older. His brother is so strong. “You never knew that?” Kai chuckles, ushering Sehun towards the stables._

_“No,” he frowns deeper. “Is he… she… really having a baby?”_

_“She is. Do you want to see her?”_

_Sehun doesn’t know if he wants to. “Will she… love her baby more than me, now?”_

_Kai laughs again and scoops Sehun up into his arms. He swings Sehun, giving him a fright, but Sehun giggles when Kai blows raspberries into his tummy. “When her baby’s big enough, he’ll be yours, Sehun.”_

_That excites Sehun as he grabs Kai’s hair at the back of his head when Kai holds him up. “Really?! Really?! All mine?!”_

_“All yours.”_

~*~

The balcony’s doors are open and the drapes are swaying in the motion of the wind. The chamber is dark and unlit, Sehun wonders if Kai is in there. He is. Sehun’s heart clenches when he discerns the faint profile of Kai’s body. Sehun steps in and stands in the balcony’s doorway with his hand tight around the grip of his sabre.

Kai has his back turned to Sehun as he pulls a shirt on and begins to lace it. He cards his fingers through his wet-looking hair before the muscles on his back flex. He freezes with his head slightly turned as if to inspect the intruder with his peripheral vision. Sehun swings his sabre and walks in.

“Who sent you?” Kai asks in a low voice, turning around to meet Sehun in the dark. A rude scoff of a laugh escapes Kai’s nose and Sehun staggers for the first time in many years. He doesn’t recall this side of Kai. This cold, merciless gaze runs Sehun’s blood cold.

Sehun waits for a moment for Kai to cry for his guards, but he doesn’t. Instead, Kai calmly walks over to the nearby wall and draws the sword on the wall out. There is a cool smirk lurking on the corners of Kai’s lips and Sehun’s eyebrows furrow together in infuriation.

“Let’s see how good you are,” Kai spits and Sehun is startled by the valour Kai poses. Like a true King.

Sehun goes for the first strike and his sabre smashes against the blade of Kai’s sword before he is shoved back. Sehun blinks in surprise as Kai smiles. Kai has a perfect defence stance and he is only gripping the sword in one hand.

“Whoever that sent you must have had his brain in his balls,” Kai snorts and Sehun launches forward again. By the fourth strike, Kai is the one who staggers back with widened eyes. This time, he is alarmed and it is Sehun’s turn to smirk, although his mask hides it.

There is no mercy in the following advances and Sehun is truly taken aback by how good of a swordsman Kai is. No one has ever stood up to Sehun’s skills as Kai has. He wasn’t expecting this.

He is better than a Vagabond Slayer.

Their blades slice through one another like metallic thunders and Sehun grabs Kai’s wrist before he slams his head into Kai’s, sending the man flying back. Clenching his teeth, Sehun lurches forward again to strike while Kai is fazed, but he is startled when Kai’s sword blocks his blow and a brutal stomp on his chest sends Sehun to the ground. There is no humour in Kai’s face, only sheer anger and a thirst for war.

Sehun bounds back up to his feet and takes hold of the flower vase before he hurls it in Kai’s way. Kai’s blade shatters the vase and there is a sudden call on the other side of the door.

“Your Highness?!” someone cries.

“I’m fine!” Kai calls back and returns his attention to Sehun. “You’re exceptionally wonderful,” he pants out breathlessly and Sehun’s sabre flies forward. Kai catches the blade with his bare hand and yanks Sehun forward before he bounds off the ground, locks his legs around Sehun’s neck and brings him down with a murderous force. Still locked in Kai’s legs, Sehun struggles to breathe and plunges his elbow into Kai’s ribs as they roll on the floor. Then tugging Sehun’s hood down, he grabs hold of Sehun’s hair and holds the blade of the sword across Sehun’s neck.

Sehun falls limp in Kai’s grip and swallows, his neck grazing the sharpness of the blade. “Good,” Kai lets out with his chest heaving against the back of Sehun’s head. “Not good enough. Guards!”

He is a King who lives up to his glorious name. And Sehun is about to die in his hands again.


	4. Chapter Two

“What do we do with him?”

Sehun struggles with the shackles on his wrists and ankles while the guards hold him back, restraining him from breaking lose. He growls and grunts, lurching back and forward to fight back. Never had he thought he would get caught this easily. Frankly, he had never imagined that Kai would be this adept. He didn’t think Kai would beat him, considering he had been trained by Vagabond Slayers. There is no way Kai, as young as he is, should have been able to defeat him. Unless, Kai isn’t contingent on solely his skills. Knowing the kind of ruthless bastard Kai is, Sehun would not be surprised if he has a few unholy tricks up his sleeves. Years and years of thirst for vengeance, all ruined.

“We shall wait for His Excellency’s orders,” says another guard. They all seem equally baffled.

“You’ve got some balls, trotting in here with nothing but a knife,” a guard spits in Sehun’s way, thrusting his head forward that Sehun stumbles to his knees. Gritting his teeth, he keeps his head low.

“It stuns me how you managed to get into the King’s chamber,” one of the seven guards, holding Sehun temporarily captive in one of the poorly-lit corridor to the dungeons.

“A Vagabond, eh?” another chimes and a brutal thud of a rod on the back of his head sends Sehun falling forward. “My Lord.”

A gasp.

A series of loud footsteps.

Sehun bites back on a groan when a boot stomps on his shoulder and as he rises a little, he is booted on the chest, causing him to collapse back, gasping as though his lungs might have ruptured. But he rises almost immediately and kneels up, glaring at the man he had once trusted, loved and hero-worshipped.

Kai towers tall before him, clad in a simple white shirt and a pair of breeches. He arches a dark eyebrow and eyes the guard, who yanks Sehun up to his feet. “Who sent you?” Kai demands in a calm and steady voice. He _looks_ calm and steady. Sehun breathes heavy behind the mask concealing half of his ruined face.

“Sire, we can make him talk,” says the guard standing at Kai’s side. Kai does not respond to his offer. Instead, he stares at Sehun, watches him as though there is something masterful about him.

“Why make him talk when I could rip your guts out and shove them down your own throat?” Kai mutters, cocking his head a little as he continues to scan Sehun’s murderous eyes, which eventually drop to the sabre Kai is holding in his hand. “Kneel,” Kai says with an experimental edge in his tone. Sehun plants his feet firmly into the ground.

“You will kneel before your King!” shouts one of the guards.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Sehun opens his mouth. “I will. But only before a worthy and a true King.” His voice is half muffled by the scarf covering his mouth.

Kai’s lips slowly stretch into a devious smile. “Ah,” he lets out a breathy chuckle. “It is so predictable of a filthy Vagabond Slayer to be adamant even when all the odds are against him,” he runs a hand through his mane of hair and exhales a heavy breath. “Charming, but foolish.” He raises a hand and Sehun stands frozen without flinching when Kai yanks his scarf down along with the part covering his face. Although Sehun does not, even for a beat, take his eyes off Kai’s eyes, Kai removes his to examine Sehun’s face. His smirk falters as his eyes scan the scars extending from the corners of Sehun’s lips. “Extraordinary,” he breathes out, while the guards look a little taken aback. “I take it that pain and torture are no strangers to you.”

“No, they’re not,” Sehun spits through his grit teeth.

Kai nods his head, the smile returning to his face. “It would be fun to find out what the point beyond your endurance shall not pass is, would it not?” he lifts a finger to Sehun’s cheek and without touching it, he pulls the finger down to Sehun’s lower lip before he lowers his hand back to his side. “Who sent you?” he asks again.

“Does it matter who sent me?” Sehun snarls. “If you’re going to kill me, you best do it now.”

“Kill you?” Kai’s laughter reverberates through the corridor. “No, darling. Killing you would counter-productive. You have walked into my trap like a prey had wrapped itself in the paws of a starving lion. Now, why would the lion let go of its dinner?” he takes a step closer and locks gazes with Sehun. “Death would be too simple. I have something far better planned for you, my little lamb. Far worse than death. How do you like the sound of that?”

Sehun’s breath calms. He is not going to show any sign of fear, because he really is not scared of Kai. Maybe he once was, but not anymore.

Kai takes another step closer. “You really thought you could strut into my own chambers and kill me?” his face turns viciously dark and intimidating. “I am going to bend you, break you, tear you apart before I will be completely done with you. Then you will know,” he harshly grabs a side of Sehun’s face and for a second, Sehun’s mind is cast back to the sweet memories of Kai holding him as he slept at night, which he wills to forget. Kai’s thumb is pressed to the deep scar on Sehun’s cheek. “ _this_ will be no match for the pain I’m about to inflict on you.” He shoves Sehun’s face away and retreats.

“You are unworthy of the throne once occupied by,” _my father._ “a fair and just and noble King,” Sehun dares himself to say. “You are nothing but a toerag bastard.” His head feels as though it might have detached from his neck when Kai brutally backhands him, the back of his hand slamming against his face. The hot, metallic liquid runs down Sehun’s tongue and lips as he regains his stability.

“Yes. I might be a toerag bastard. But I am the ruler of all of Havegnia and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, you fucking git. Lock him up. Strip him of his clothes. And when I have roused from my slumber, I expect to see him in wounds,” he turns his back to Sehun. “And salt repeatedly rubbed all over them. Give him food, give him water. But don’t let him sleep. He will willingly kneel before me when I’m back.”

Sehun’s knees finally buckle as his father’s words echo in the back of his head. Heart of a lion. Will of an eagle. Strength of a king.

 

* * *

 

This is not the first time assassins have tried to kill him. A lot of people did not welcome a bastard King who overthrew their well-natured King in the beginning. However, it is the first time someone had gotten this close. Kai is not that surprised, considering the fact that the assassin is a Vagabond Slayer, but what boggles his mind is that Vagabonds are rarely hired, because they cost a fortune and a contract with them is mighty risky. Kai couldn’t think of someone who would have gone through the great deal of struggle to hire a Vagabond Slayer to assassinate him.

Kai has very little intention of finding out who could have sent the Vagabond Slayer, to be honest. What he intends to do with the Vagabond has a more important objective.

The chamber doors open and Kai, for a brief moment, tears his gaze away from the mirror while the ladies lace his doublet. Tia saunters into the chamber, gracefully as ever, with a book in her hands. She does not even spare Kai a single look as she proceeds to the dais.

“Leave,” Kai orders the servants. “My Queen shall attend me.”

Tia’s eyes finally turn towards him, full of disdain, full of hatred as she comes to an abrupt halt to look back at her husband. Neither of them had married one another for love. And neither of them cared much for the other. Although, Tia had spent their early years in marriage trying to get Kai to repent and change his cruel, untoward ways, she soon realized not only she, but no one could get Kai to feel penitence about his misconducts. That soon transformed her hope for Kai into a full-bloomed contempt and animosity.

“You are perfectly capable of attending yourself,” she says in a cool tone.

Kai clenches his jaw. He waits until only they two are left alone in the chamber before he speaks. “You did not come to bed last night.”

“Only because I knew you would have the bed quite occupied with some other distractions,” she says, smirking a little, but there is no joy behind the smile.

“I did, as a matter of fact,” Kai hums. “And they were twice as good as a fuck you were.”

“I’m glad,” she chimes and does a little curtsey before she proceeds to take her seat on the throne.

“Have you not heard about the commotion from last night?”

“I have,” she mutters, flipping her book open. Her brown hair flows like a cascade on one side, her cheeks are rosier than usual and her pink lips are plush as always and she is still the most beautiful woman Kai has ever laid his eyes upon. He does not love her, but he wanted to acquire her and he has succeeded. Besides, Tia, the Princess of Triyan was always meant for the King of Havegnia.

“And you do not care?”

Tia looks up from her books and lets out the most harmonious laughter. “I care, My King. Should you die, without an heir, I will reign over the all of the Kingdom. I do care.” She smiles and Kai scoffs.

“If you want me dead, you should poison my food. You know I’ll eat anything from your fingers.”

“I would have to feed you for that and I would rather die than show you any gesture of affection.”

Kai licks his lips and slowly nods his head. “Why do you regard me with disgust? You were the first woman I’ve ever touched. And even after marriage, I never thought of sharing my bed with another woman. Until you completely pushed me away.”

“It is not about who you bed,” she spits. “It is about what kind of a man you are. And I see nothing but a vile, vicious and ruthless man, who covets for things that aren’t his.”

That surprises a laugh out of Kai. “This is about my dead half-brother.” Tia falls silent, but she does not remove her glower from Kai. “Is it not? You repulse me because you have always been led to believe that you will be wed to the rightful heir to the throne. That you will be Sehun’s lover and that Sehun will court you. You never fathomed being the Queen of a bastard King.”

Tia rises to her full height. “Enough. I was young. I _am_ young. But I was never led to believe anything. I married you with hopes that you would be a good man, a good husband. You are a good King to the people, but only I know there is nothing good about you.”

Kai heaves a sigh. “Do as you please, My Queen. But mark my words. The day I get bored of you little stunts, I will discard you and you will regret it.”

“I look forward to that day,” she says.

Kai turns on his heel, grinding his teeth. Astan greets him with a bow outside the chambers. “My Liege. Scholar Harmel wishes to see you, My King.”

“Is that so? Have him see me in the study.”

The head guard walks up to him and bows.

“The assassin,” Kai demands.

“Has been screaming for a rest ever since you left, My Lord,” the guard says with a shaky hint in his voice. His face is flushed and he looks like he might be sick. “Sire, I am not certain the boy will hold onto his life for much longer.”

“Good,” Kai spits and wends his way to the dungeons.

“My Lord,” the guard says hesitantly as he hurtles behind Kai. “It is… tormenting for the men to watch the boy—” he cuts himself short when Kai tosses him a ferocious glare.

“The _boy_?”

“He is… a boy, sire.”

Kai blinks. “Is he, now?”

 When he enters the dungeons, the guards step aside with a bow and he walks into the cell. He finds buckets of water on the floor before his eyes land on the naked, bleeding body curled into a ball in the corner. The Vagabond has his eyes open, although his wet body is covered in small cuts. He hugs his knees closer to his chest and shivers uncontrollably. It is a beautiful sight to see.

Kai walks over to him and lowers to a crouch. The Vagabond does not look up at him. “Are you ready to kneel?”

The Slayer parts his lips open and looks up at Kai. “You will have to… kill me first.”

That earns the Vagabond a merciless blow of the back of Kai’s hand on the face. Kai stands to his feet and cards his fingers through his hair before he stomps his foot on the Slayer’s chest, slamming him against the wall. He repeatedly stomps on the boy’s stomach until the Slayer coughs out blood before he collapses to the ground. Then spitting on the Vagabond, he turns to his guards.

“Have him washed thoroughly. Tie him to a pole and flog him. Twenty, thirty whips, I don’t care. Until he passes out. Until he is broke. Then, wash him with salt water, soap and send him to my chambers.”

The guards bow their heads, though their faces have gone grey. Kai does not spare the coughing boy a glance before he proceeds to meet the scholar.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! Thank you so much for the 400+ kudos T_T Let's hope we can reach 500 kudos for this chapter!!


	5. Chapter Three

“Your Excellency,” the scholar and his apprentice rise from their seats and bow the instant Kai enters the study. Parchments and scrolls lay scattered on the desk, waiting for Kai’s undivided attention. Though Kai has never been a fan of politics or too interested in the matters of foreign and domestic policies, he fairly excelled at it all. He could not afford to be a King, who is only adept when it comes to lifting a sword. He had to be the whole package and he _is_. Only twice as ruthless.

When Kai takes his seat at the desk, the old scholar smiles at him behind the thick white beard he wears. His petite little apprentice, who looks like he might spew up every time he is forced to stand before the King, is carrying a bundle of scrolls and books.

“We have gathered enough knowledge about what you required, Your Majesty,” says the scholar.

Kai perks up with widened eyes and stiffens in his chair. “You have?”

“Yes, My Lord,” the scholar holds a hand out and the boy hands a scroll over. “The other scholars and bookmen and I have made our discoveries of the ancient Spirabiliz.”

“It has taken you far too long,” he sighs. “You are welcomed to enlighten me, Scholar Harmel.”

“My King,” he spreads the scroll open on the desk. “We have done an extensive assessment and we have reached the conclusion that it is near impossible to achieve what you wish to be achieved.”

Kai jolts up to his feet. “And why is that?”

“My Lord, the Spirabiliz is split into six different constituents, which will make up the entire Spirabiliz of Immortality.”

“I am well aware of that.”

“Your Majesty, the Six Spirabiliz are scattered all over the Kingdom. To acquire them, you will have to journey to the most malefic corners and you might not survive them all.”

Kai stares daggers at the scholar. “What are the Six Spirabiliz?”

The scholar points the rolled out scroll. “The Fruit of Cael, the Ring of Iugis, the heart of a lion, the Lake of Aevitas, the tear of a Nympharum.”

Kai arches an eyebrow. “That’s only five.”

“The sixth integral of the Spirabiliz will uncover itself once you have acquired all five of them. This is the map that will thoroughly guide you through the locations of the Spirabiliz, however, men have never found most of them.”

Kai sucks in a deep breath. “Well, that is what they all say when they do not want men to find something they should not.” He picks the map up and gives it a once-over. “You are certain these are the exact locations to find the five of the Spirabiliz?”

“Affirmative, Your Highness,” the scholar says, bowing his head. “If I could offer Your Highness my counsel.”

“Go ahead.”

“It would be advisable for you to let yourself be accompanied by men who are skilled to assist you, should you choose to go on this journey.”

“Hmm,” Kai hums. “My men are quite skilled, Scholar Harmel.”

“But they will not survive before you could even procure your second Spirabiliz. You will need men who are as good as you, My Lord. Perhaps even better.”

Kai smirks to himself. “I will consider your counsel, Scholar Harmel. You may take your leave. I will summon you once I have made my decisions.”

“Very well, My King,” the scholar and his apprentice bow before they absent themselves from the study. Kai sinks back in his chair and skims through the scrolls.

Consume the tear of a Nympharum and the Fruit of Cael from the land of Jehovah, acquire the Ring of Iugis, bear the heart of a lion, souse with the water of the Lake of Aevitas. A journey to Jehovah, Iugis, Aatwana and Aevitas. Kai has never ventured to Jehovah, Aatwana or Aevitas, but he has been to Iugis. However, he was not apprised of the fact that the province harbours a Spirabiliz.

Kai rubs his temples. This will be a murderous journey. Scholar Harmel is right.

Immortality.

King forever.

Kai is not going to let the chance slip through his fingers. He will at least try. After all, he has come this far.

 

* * *

 

He is completely conscious when the guards drag him across the dark room as the water rivulets drip from his hair. The alertness is striking and Sehun could barely breathe with a low thrum in the back of his head. His body has gone mostly numb. The cuts all over his body have stopped bleeding, but the insides of his body feel as though they have ruptured. If only he were not trained to endure all sorts of physical and psychic pain, he would have died. And right now, Sehun would prefer to be dead. He failed. He has failed his father, his mother and he had let Kai win again.

Sehun’s shackles are yanked before his front is shoved against a pole. He hears the guards mutter something as the arms are locked around the pole with chains. He presses his forehead to the pole and sucks in a breath, bracing himself for the blow.

When the whip strikes his back, he does not let the scream out. He clenches his jaw and muffles a cry when the second whip strikes. A tear rolls down the corner of his eye.

_“Will I ever let anyone hurt you?”_

_Yet you are the only one who has ever hurt me._

Sehun clenches his eyes shut tight and finally cries when his back splits open with the seventh whip.

 

* * *

 

“Sire,” Astan announces himself, entering the study. Kai looks up from the political documents he has been attending all day that he has lost track of time. Besides that, he also has to move cautiously regarding the Spirabiliz, so that the court and his counsel would not find out, because he honestly does not have the interest in convincing them or listening to their useless and foolish comments. “Her Highness is wondering if you would accompany her in the bedchambers tonight.”

Kai could only stare at his lackey upon receiving the message. “She has… asked for me?”

“Yes, My King.”

Kai rises to his feet at once and straightens his shirt, the doublet having been discarded some time ago, before he hurries out of the study. “Has she mentioned why she wishes to see me?” he asks as Astan tries to keep up with his long strides.

“No, sire.”

“Send a chalice of wine to our chambers.”

“Right away, My Liege,” he bows and scampers away at once.

This is the first time Tia has ever willingly wanted to see Kai. In the bedchambers, too. It is not that Kai pines for her. It is just that Tia is the only one who has never sought his attention and it would be wondrous to have her lay at his feet with obedience.

“This is a surprise,” Kai says as he saunters into the chambers. He finds Tia perched on the edge of the bed they no longer share. She shoots up to her feet with grim expression etched to her face. “Not a pleasant one, I suppose?”

“You seek the Spirabiliz,” she says, eyes brimming with shock.

Kai heaves a vexed breath. “Scholar Harmel told you?”

“I demanded it out of him. Don’t blame him. You have been having private engagements with the scholar for a while now and I was right to suspect that you are up to nothing good!” she spits like a venomous snake, advancing forward. “Do you really believe that you can find it? The Spirabiliz.”

“I am not sure how it should concern you.”

Tia looks flustered. “You want to rule forever, until the end of time?!”

“Imagine the lands and prosperity I will own,” Kai smirks.

“I can imagine the horror of it,” she pants, pressing a palm to her forehead as Kai begins to lose his composure. “Sweet Lord.”

“You should know where you stand. Just because I tolerate you, it doesn’t mean you get to stick your head where it does not belong, understand? You will not breathe a word about it to anyone.”

“I will not stand by and watch you ruthless bastard become a King for eternity!”

That is when Kai loses it all and his hand flies up to clutch his wife’s neck. Tia’s eyes bulge out as her windpipe is choked. She grabs his hand and her fingernails claw into his skin. “You underestimate my lack of patience, My Queen. It will not take me a second to snap your neck this instant and kill you like the ruthless bastard you said I am.”

“Then do it,” she growls. “Kill me. And you will answer to my father. You _will_ have a war with the King of Triyan.”

Kai releases her neck just as the chamber doors are swung open. Tia coughs, holding onto her neck while Kai turns to attend the guards. He freezes in his tracks when the guards shove the Vagabond Slayer into the room. The boy, bleeding and half unconscious, crashes the ground. Tia cries out a gasp as Kai’s lips curl into an obscene smile. The Slayer is weeping, but not even his cries are strong. His back is completely covered in blood with flesh and skin hanging loose due to the beautiful lashes of the whip. Kai crouches to the boy.

“Ah…” is all the weak noise that escapes from the Slayer when Kai grabs a handful of his hair at the back of his head and yanks it up to lift his head.

“Kneel,” he spits through his clenched teeth, tightening his grip around the Slayer’s hair.

“Oh, God! Have you no heart, you monster!?” Tia screams and lurches forward before she drops to her knees with tears staining her rosy cheeks. “Lord, he will die!”

“That is the idea,” Kai scoffs, releasing the boy’s hair as he shoves the boy’s face back into the ground. Tia is gaping at him in utter horror.

Then wiping her tears with the back of her dainty hand, she rises and faces the guards. “Fetch the physicians! Now!”

The guards idly look to their King instead. Kai rolls his eyes and brings a boot to the Slayer’s back. He presses his foot into one of the deep, bleeding cut and the Slayer lets out a monstrous scream, grabbing onto Kai’s leg. “He is the assassin who came after me last night.”

Tia, without hesitation, thrusts Kai back and away from the boy. “I do not care! He is a human being!” she faces the guards again. “You will not disobey direct orders from your Queen! I will not stand for this inhumane tyranny! Get me the physicians this instant or you will face regrettable penances!”

The head guard bows his head and hurries away immediately while the rest begin to lift the half-dead Slayer up.

“To the infirmary now!” Tia orders. Kai stares at the blood stains on the floor and licks his lips before he looks up at Tia, who regards him with pure hatred. “I have never met a more disgustful and abhorrent man than you. And I don’t know what sin I’ve made to be married to you.” With that, she chases after the guards and the Slayer.

 

~*~

 

_“Sehun, it’s okay. Come, take a closer look,” Kai whispers, gently stroking the back of Sehun’s head as Sehun continues to hide behind Kai’s leg while hugging it with his tiny hands clutching Kai’s trousers._

_“No, I don’t want to scare her,” Sehun whimpers, looking up at his very tall brother._

_“Filo would like to show you her new baby, Sehun,” Kai says and bends down before picking Sehun up in his arms and ventures deeper into the stables._

_“Is her baby small?” Sehun whispers into Kai’s ear._

_“Not as small as you are,” Kai laughs._

_“Mummy says I may be small, but I have a biiiiiiig heart.” He hugs Kai’s neck, pressing his face against Kai’s cheek._

_“And she’s right.”_

_“Not as big as yours.”_

_“So, you will be all right sharing Filo with her new baby now, right?”_

_“I don’t know,” Sehun says honestly. He loves Filo too much to share her love with anyone. He certainly couldn’t imagine sharing his brother’s love with someone else. Sehun knows he will be selfish to think that, but he really does not want Kai to love anyone as much as he loves his baby brother._

_“There. In there,” Kai lowers Sehun back to the ground when they reach Filo’s new, bigger stall. Sehun has to squint his eyes to see better in the dark. He gasps and grabs onto the stall’s bars when he spots the small horse, which looks like a mini version of Filo sleeping next to his mother._

_“He’s so tiny,” he says in the lowest voice, careful not to wake the baby horse up. Filo is staring at him with heavy eyes. “So tiny.”_

_Kai crouches beside him and smiles. “Isn’t he adorable?”_

_“Oh, he is, Kai. He is soooooo adorable!”_

_“Maybe one day you can give Princess Tia a ride on him.”_

_Sehun scowls at his brother, who is wearing a mischievous smirk. “He is only mine. I will not share him with anyone! Especially not with that Tia! I hate her! I hate her!”_

_“Oh, God,” Kai laughs, curling an arm around Sehun. “What shall we call him?”_

_“Hmmm… Aristo,” Sehun says._

_“Aristo?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Like the doggy in the puppet show you saw the other day?”_

_“Yes!”_

_“Okay. Aristo it is.”_

 


	6. Chapter Four

_The hallway is eerily quiet. Sehun heart is pounding in his chest as he stays hidden behind the wall in the corner. The hallway is still empty. He grips his wooden sword and patiently waits. He is going to lose this time. He will win. He will win, so that Kai will have to reward him with sweetmeats._

_Sucking in a shaky breath, he steps away from the wall and stands at the mouth of the hallway. He glances around. Only he is there. Then with all abruptness, he breaks into a sprint across the hallway. His tiny, short legs are not fast enough and he probably will not outrun Kai._

_“Ah!” he gasps before he hears another high-pitched gasp when he bumps right into the skirt of a gown. “Mummy!”_

_“My goodness, Sehun!” his mother huffs, holding her hand to her chest. “You startled me. Why are you running?”_

_“Kai and I are playing hide-and-go-seek, Mummy. Move, Mummy, he will catch me!” he shoves past his mother, who looks a little stumped, and sprints away._

_“All right. But be careful!” his mother calls after him, but Sehun does not bother to glance back. He has to get to the library to hide._

_Just as he zooms past the hallway, a strong arm grabs him out of nowhere and Kai jumps out from the corner, scooping Sehun up from the floor. “Nooooo!” Sehun cries as Kai bursts into a laughter, swinging Sehun around before he drops Sehun on the floor and starts to tickle him._

_“Caught you,” he wheezes as Sehun giggles uncontrollably, kicking Kai on the chest to push him away. But Kai is too strong. Too tall. Too big. His wooden sword is lost from his grip, too._

_“Stop, stop! Please, Kai!” he manages to say, laughing ferociously when Kai lifts his shirt and blows on his tummy. “No, no! No raspberries! Please!”_

_“You lost! I get to tickle you. That was the deal,” Kai says, continuing to tickle him against the floor. Sehun plants his hands in Kai’s hair and yanks it, unable to control his laughter or push his brother away._

_“I will die!”_

_“No one dies from being tickled, Sehun,” Kai withdraws for a second and picks Sehun up before throwing him over his shoulder. Sehun tries to free himself, but it is to no avail. “I’m going to tickle you all day,” he says, carrying Sehun to his chamber._

 

~*~

 

It hurts. It is an unbearable agony. The insides of his stomach, where Kai had kicked, no longer hurt. But the ache in his chest grows more painful by each heartbeat. There is no greater pain that being betrayed by the ones you trusted the most. The thirst for vengeance fades as the pain of betrayal seeps in. Kai has killed his father, and possibly his mother, too. He would have killed Sehun as well. He betrayed the man, who had treated him like his own son. He had betrayed a brother, whose entire world revolved around him. He had crushed his own mother. All for what? Power.

The sound of his blood pounding in his ears is what registers to him foremost. He is not sure how long he had been unconscious, but his head feels light and although every part of his body is in some sort of pain, it is not as agonizing anymore. Something warm radiates on his arm and his lying on his stomach on something soft and smooth.

With a gasp, his eyes fly open and he flops on his back before he jolts upright. He hears a series of yelps as he frantically tries to get off the bed.

“No, do not move or strain a muscle,” says the old woman, who clasps a hand to Sehun’s forearm. Sehun freezes, breathlessly staring at the woman. She wears her grey hair long and she is clad in thick robes. Around her, there are several women, holding platters and bowls. “Stay put.”

Sehun swallows, feeling completely exposed. He is in pants, but his upper body is unclothed. “Where am I?” he asks in a hoarse voice and is surprised when he realizes how dry his throat is.

“You are in the infirmary, under our care. How does your back feel?” the aged woman asks with a gentle smile plastered to her wrinkled face. “You have been asleep for almost a week.”

 _A week_.

Sehun blinks, shifting uncomfortably. His back stings and the image of being flogged at the pole comes rushing to his mind and sadly, that is the only thing he could recall. He looks around the infirmary. He is still in the castle.

The women behind the old healer look like they might scurry away any moment now. They look terrified. The old woman, then presses her fingers to Sehun’s bruised wrist as though to check his pulse.

“You ought to calm down,” says the woman.

“Why… am I here?” Sehun demands in a breath.

“To have you healed, of course.” She turns to one of the ladies, who hands her a simple. The healing woman unstoppers the simple and drizzles some sort of greenish salve on her palm. “Now, this might sting. But I suppose it will be nothing but a little discomfort for you.” She smirks and strokes Sehun’s jagged back with her hand, applying the salve. Sehun grits his teeth, clenching his fists. He has to leave. He has to find a way to escape now. And right when he tries to move his feet, he realizes that there are shackles around his ankles, chained to the floor. “I wouldn’t try to do anything funny, if I were you. The Queen is kind, but she would not be so friendly if you were ungrateful toward her generosity.”

Sehun examines the scars of the cuts on his arms and abdomen. “The—” he is interrupted when the doors open and a girl, thriving in womanhood, steps into the chamber. She sports a black and gold gown with a flare skirt, nothing too gaudy or showy, but the diamond diadem on her head suggests that she is royalty. She stops in her tracks to stare at Sehun in something like surprise and awe. Sehun grimly scowls, lowering his eyes. Her hair fountains over her breast on one side and her rosy cheeks and lips remind Sehun of someone he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?” she says and her voice carries through the chamber like a wind chime.

“Your Majesty,” the healer says and bows along with the rest of the women before they leave Sehun and the girl alone. She is not exactly a girl, but she most certainly cannot be older than Sehun. Youth and beauty are fierce about her, but at the same time, as she edges closer, Sehun can see the fatigue and misery in her gaze.

Sehun is not going to thank her for saving him. She must be the Queen. She must be Kai’s Queen. The Queen, who is an accomplice in Kai’s treachery and cruelty. He turns his face away, eyes looking for some sort of weapon to free himself.

The Queen hesitates when she speaks. “How…” she starts, but trails off. Sehun had only heard about the celebrations that flowed over the Kingdom when Kai had gotten married. He had heard of how beautiful and graceful their new Queen was. She is an abetter for Kai’s crimes and she lives with a man, who has no code of morality. She is no better than Kai is.

With a subtle sigh, the Queen retreats to the window and she silently gazes away from Sehun. “How are you?” she inquires in a soft tone, finally looking over to Sehun again.

“Why are you having me healed?” Sehun spits out and the Queen looks taken aback. “So that your bastard of a King can hurt me again and again?”

The Queen straightens up and her expression is no longer kind. “His severity might not be forgivable. But his anger is justifiable,” she says. “You were going to kill him.”

“And I failed miserably,” Sehun says through his grit teeth.

“Look. I do not think it is fair to punish you like this when you are just a hireling, sent to kill him. Which is why I wanted to help you. But I cannot go against him for too long. You will have to tell him who sent you and pledge your loyalty to him.”

Sehun clenches his jaw. “No one sent me.”

The Queen is paralyzed for a moment as she gawks at Sehun. She advances closer. She has some courage, Sehun will give her that. Stepping closer and talking to an assassin who almost killed her husband.

“No one sent you? What could a Vagabond Slayer hold against the King?” she asks in a breathy whisper as she stops only a foot away from Sehun’s bed.

“He isn’t King,” Sehun snarls. “He has never and he never will be the King of Havegnia.”

The Queen is staring at his face now and for the first time in forever, Sehun wants to hide his hideous face. For some odd reason, he does not want her to see his scars, to get appalled by his face. But he couldn’t look away from her greenish-hazel eyes either. “He overthrew the former reign. He rightfully earned his place on the throne and everyone was willing to follow him because he was a powerful, potent and a strong Prince.”

“He betrayed the family who had trusted him,” Sehun growls. The Queen falls silent as she continues to gaze into Sehun’s eyes. The moment between them freezes when she raises a steady hand. She hesitates as she brings her hand closer to Sehun’s cheek.

Sehun turns his face away, swallowing hard when the Queen’s fingers softly brush his scarred cheek. “Oh, my God,” the Queen lets out in a sharp breath and retrieves her hand.

As though on cue, the doors are banged open. Sehun meets the Queen’s horrified eyes before he turns his attention the guards that storm into the chamber.

“My Queen,” one of them rasps, bowing before the Queen. “His Excellency has ordered us to fetch the Slayer.”

“He is not fully healed!” the Queen snaps. “You will not take him anywhere until he is, Dastan!”

The guard lowers his head, letting out a heavy breath. “I apologize, Queen Tia. But I have direct orders from His Highness.” He nods his head to another guard, who releases the shackles around Sehun’s ankles and yanks him off the bed before his wrists are shackled and handcuffed together.

 _Queen Tia_. _Tia._

Sehun glances back to her with his breath caught in his throat and heart thundering in his chest as he is dragged out of the infirmary. Tia has her hand clasped over her mouth with tears brimming in her eyes, which are staring at Sehun with terror.

It is her. Sehun, out of breath, staggers and stumbles as he is hauled through the hallways. His bones feel as though they might snap and his head spins violently. It is her. She is married to that heinous beast. _No, no, no._

Doors are opened before the guards lug Sehun into a vast, extravagant hall. He recalls the chamber. It is the throne chamber. He briefly reminisces the memories of celebrations held in this very chamber. He used to sit on his father’s lap, eating every sort of sweeties he could get his hands on while Kai was praised by myriad of noblemen for his bravery and victory in the border wars and skirmishes before they would pimp out their daughters for Kai to dance with.

And now, it is just a room filled with misery and the memories.

Sehun is shoved forward and he crashes onto his knees. He raises his head and as soon as he sees Kai perched on the throne, he immediately jolts up to his feet. A smirk lurks about the lifted corner of Kai’s lips. He sits like a King, all right. He sits like the regal throne is only made for him. It was Sehun’s father’s throne. It is rightfully Sehun’s. Kai has no right to sit in it.

“I see that you can stand,” Kai says, running a hand through his hair. Sehun wonders why he does not sport a crown. “Good.” He rises to his full height and steps down the dais. Sehun’s grits his teeth, eyes narrowing, hands gripping the chain of the shackles when Kai stops right before him. Their eyes lock and he tries his best to not to flinch when Kai cups his chin with a brutal grip. “What an ugly thing you are,” he scoffs and shoves Sehun’s face away. “Dastan, you may begin.” He turns his back to Sehun and takes his seat on the throne again, smiling like he is waiting for a show.

Sehun turns to face the guard who steps forward. What is happening? He looks around and takes a step back when the guard draws his sword. Then without any forewarning, the guard lurches forward, swinging his sword to strike Sehun. Taken completely by surprise, Sehun jumps back and misses the blade by an inch. His eyes dart to Kai, who smirks, cocking an eyebrow at him. Sehun gasps when the guard lunges his sword again and he drops to the ground and rolls before quickly pushing himself up to his feet again. His body cries in pain for a second, but he knows he can’t give in to the pain now. If it is a show that Kai wants, then so be it.

He blocks next strike of the blade with the chain of his wrist shackles and wraps the chain around the blade before yanking it down and plunges his knee into the guard’s abdomen. The guard bends to clutch his stomach and with a full-swing, he pulls his sword back and twirls around, sword aiming for Sehun’s neck this time.

With a duck of his head, Sehun misses the blow and he bounds off the floor before planting a pirouette kick on the side of the guard’s head, sending him staggering. His chest heaves and he glances to the rest of the guards who are gaping at him. When the guard regains his stability and advances forward, Sehun holds arms out and the blade slices through the chain, releasing his wrists and Sehun spins around, plants his elbow in the guard’s face before he manoeuvers to kick off the ground and lock his legs around the guard’s neck. He brings the guard down with him and clutches the man’s neck before slamming his head back against the floor. The guard boots him in the chest and Sehun stumbles back. Once they have risen to their feet, Sehun makes a quick estimation of the length of distance between them. Then without hesitation, he lets the guard vault forward and plunge his sword into the front of his shoulder. He bites back on a scream when the blade pierces through his flesh. The tip of the blade juts out the back of his shoulder and blood begins to ooze down his chest. With the distance between them gone and the guard still clinging onto his sword, Sehun grabs the back of the guard’s neck and slams his forehead into the guard’s repeatedly until the guard loses his grip on the sword. Then thrusting his foot on the guard’s chest, he sends the guard to the ground. Yanking the sword out of his shoulder, Sehun pins his foot to the guard’s chest and points the sword to the guard’s throat.

As the guard stares at Sehun’s with bulged out eyes while gathering his breath, Sehun catches his own. His fight isn’t with this man. He hurls the sword to the floor and steps away from the defeated guard.

The sound of claps reverberates in the chamber and he looks to Kai, who slowly rises from the throne and wends his way to Sehun and his guard. He picks up the discarded sword from the floor and marches over to his guard, who still lays stiff on the ground. Sehun’s throat tightens when Kai drives the sword through the guard’s chest, hard enough until the sword gores through the ground. The guard coughs out a gush of blood before he goes limp and motionless. “You are as good as dead when you’re defeated,” Kai spits, rising back to his feet and faces Sehun.

“He was your guard. Your servant,” Sehun says breathlessly. “How could you?”

“Thus far I thought he was my best swordsman,” Kai snorts, lightly kicking the side of the dead man’s face. “You will join me for dinner tonight. Like a dog that will accompany its master. Have him prepared.” With just that, he leaves the throne chamber.


	7. Chapter Five

It isn’t anything what Sehun had expected at all. He had thought that he will be shoved to the ground and several buckets of water will be hurled in his way like the last time he was bathed. But he had not foreseen this. The guards, who look horrified ever since they witnessed Kai murdering their fellow guard in cold blood, take his chains off, although they leave the shackles around Sehun’s wrists and ankles on.

Sehun is left alone in the bathing chamber and he glances to the vast and deep pool that could fit a hundred men. The steam of the hot water fumes from the surface of the undisturbed water. He looks to the ladies standing around the chamber as two of them step forward with hesitancy. They unlace his breeches and Sehun steps out of the pants. There isn’t a window in the chamber, only a sun hole in the ceiling, which is too high up for him to reach.

The ladies, then urge him to get into the pool. Sehun’s heart thumpers in disbelief as he descends into the pool. The water is warm against his skin and the healing lashes on his back sting a little when the water touches them. He lets out a soft, trembling breath. He stares at the women, who climb into the water with him and he tries to not to flinch away when they begin to scrub his arms and chest. He clenches his jaw and eyes, and tries to keep calm. He endures it as they sponge his skin with kindness. What is Kai’s intention behind this sudden act of warmth? Warmth? There is nothing warm about that cold bastard. He wants to have dinner with Sehun? But as the master of a dog.

Sehun’s mind is briefly cast to Tia and the expression she had held before they had parted. Could she have recognized him? God. Why would she marry such a cruel, heartless man? What sin had she committed to deserve such an ill fate?

He cracks his eyes open when a fragrant water is poured over his head. The ladies gently card their fingers through his wet hair and Sehun grows restless. Kai certainly has motives. Otherwise, he would not be permitting Sehun a relaxing bath. It does not make any sense. Only some days ago, he was ordering his men to flog Sehun and peel the skin off his back. And today, he is impressed by Sehun’s victory over his best swordsman, and has rewarded him with a bath and dinner? The bastard is up to something.

Sehun uses the opportunity to think things through. What should he do hereon? He certainly cannot win against Kai in this state. Kai is not his guard, who had poor stances and stamina. Sehun will only lose if he stood against Kai again. Kai hasn’t killed him yet. He really should have. Sehun grits his teeth harder. Kai should have killed him when he had the chance. Sehun will need to play along for a while until the chance strikes again. He needs to be tactful now.

When he climbs out of the pool, the ladies dry him off before they wrap him in silk. It is all amusing. When he was only a child, he was accustomed to these luxuries. But now, all of it is strange to him. Even having the servants touch him discomforts him. He is no longer used to gentle touches and kind strokes.

The ladies help him get into a simple white tunic. The tunic’s hem reaches the top of his knees and he waits for the ladies to hand him a pair of trousers, but they do not. Sehun, mind-boggled and a little flustered, stares at the woman who unlocks his shackles. She, then replaces them with gold, heavier ones. Sehun’s breath catches in his throat as he inspects the gold shackles around his wrists and ankles. Another woman pins the wrist shackles together with a loose gold chain as the other locks a thick gold collar around his neck. Sehun sucks in a breath and staggers back. The ladies instantly retreat from him and gasp. As though on cue the guards storm into the chamber.

“What are these?!” he yelps as the gold collar that chokes his neck hangs heavy around his neck.

“You do not get to ask the questions here,” one of the guards spits. “Finish the preparation,” he growls at the ladies.

Sehun blinks with his breath quickening. The long chain is hooked to the front of collar and it is linked to the shackles on his wrists. He balls his hands into fists.

_A dog._

The ladies brush their fingers, which are smeared with scented oil, on the sides of his neck and he flinches. They also neaten his hair before one of them brings her forefinger to his eyes. Sehun freezes as the woman applies something black along the lower rim of his eyes.

With that, the ladies step back and the guards grab his arms. “Even His Highness’ dog has to be extravagant,” a guard scoffs as Sehun is escorted along the hallway. The chains linked to his shackles are long enough for him to drop his hands to his sides.

He is not being brought to the dining chamber. He knows this is not the way to the dining chamber. This is the way to Kai’s chamber. Sehun looks to the guards’ swords.

They come to halt before the doors to Kai’s chambers. Sehun clenches his jaw. He calmly enters the chamber when he is ordered to do so. The doors are shut behind him and he glances around the chamber. The last time he was here, he was begging on the floor with his skin of his back completely destroyed.

He spots Kai on one of the twin thrones. His eyes are fixed on Sehun. Sehun does not shy away from his piercing gaze and grinds his teeth. Kai scans Sehun from top to toe. The table beside the throne holds a platter of fancy breads and cheese with grapes and a chalice of thick wine. It does not look much like dinner. Kai picks up the wineglass and takes a long swig of the wine while his eyes rake Sehun.

He then gestures Sehun to come forth with a finger. Sehun holds his ground, glaring menacingly at Kai. With a smirk, Kai sloppily slumps back against the throne and waits. He already looks a little drunk and he might slide off the throne as he drags a hand along his crotch.

“Shall I order the guards to bring you forth?” he says in a clumsy tone and Sehun looks daggers at him for a moment. Then with a great willpower, he forces himself to move. “Up here,” Kai mutters and Sehun climbs up the throne dais. “Sit.” He looks to his feet.

Heart of a lion. Will of an eagle. Strength of a king.

Sehun lowers to his knees, careful not to seem like he is kneeling to respect Kai, and sits. Kai sits up straight and grabs a morsel of bread. “What is your name?” he asks in a low, deep voice. Sehun only scowls at him. “Would you rather I call you my dog?” he holds the morsel out to Sehun.

He is feeding Sehun.

Sehun is trained to go days without food and with little water. But it has been a while since Sehun has eaten anything decent. He is not going to eat it from Kai’s hand.

“Or do you prefer… bitch?”

“What the hell do you want?” Sehun snarls through his grit teeth.

“Ah. It barks.” He brought the bread closer to Sehun’s mouth and it brushes Sehun’s lips. “Let’s see if it bites. Eat. Or I will have the guards shove a rod down your throat.”

Sehun would rather have the rod, but right now, he does not have much of an option. He eats the bread and he lets his lips brush Kai’s fingers. Kai leans back against the throne and watches Sehun with half-lidded eyes.

“Who trained you?” he inquires, throwing a leg over the armrest of the throne. He does not even look the illegitimate Prince Sehun knew of. He looks like an unruly, rowdy ruffian. His shirt is mostly unlaced, showcasing his toned, bronze chest and upper abdomen. His hair is a disorderly mess. When Sehun does not reply, he lets out a loud, exasperated breath. He sits upright again and runs his fingers through his tousled hair. Out of the sudden, he grabs hold of Sehun’s chain connecting his collar and wrist shackles, and Sehun lurches forward, almost crashing the ground, but Kai releases the chain and grabs Sehun’s hair at the back of his head instead. He yanks it back and a moan escapes from Sehun’s lips. “Ugly bitch,” he hisses under his breath and lets go of Sehun’s hair. He takes hold of the chain again and leans back in his seat, hauling the chain with him. Sehun has to crawl forward as the chain of his collar is pulled. “As ugly as you are, your skills are very impressive.” He lifts a booted foot and presses the sole to Sehun’s shoulder. He curls the chain around his hand to pull Sehun closer, between his legs. He picks up a bit of cheese from the platter and hands it out to Sehun. While his blood boils in his veins, he takes the cheese into his mouth and eats it. “I am willing to offer you your freedom.”

Sehun freezes. “What?”

Kai drops his foot from his shoulder and leans in. He looks right into Sehun’s eyes before he gazes along the scars on Sehun’s face. “Do you want to be free, my ugly little bitch?”

Sehun could only stare at Kai in horror.

Kai’s grip on the chain loosens and he curls a hand around the collar and Sehun’s neck. “If you do as I say and be very, _very_ obedient like a good dog and serve me with loyalty, I will give you your freedom. I only want very little from you. Your prowess and mastery.”

“What do you mean?”

Kai slumps back on the throne and takes a breath. “Do you accept or do you not?”

“I will need elaboration.”

Kai smirks and leans forward again. He takes hold of the chain. “Dogs do not need elaborations. If you do not accept, I will have a little fun with you before I will kill you in the most ruthless way you can imagine.”


	8. Chapter Six

“What could you possibly need from _me_?” Sehun asks, unable to believe his ears. Kai is offering him his freedom with terms. It is not as though Sehun is left with much option, but Kai sounds like he is giving Sehun an option, which he, in reality, isn’t.

Kai harrumphs and flips his hair back, releasing the chain. “As I said. Your prowess as a Vagabond Slayer.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say that I wish to journey to the unlikeliest parts of Havegnia only a Vagabond can reach.”

“You are a King. How would my assistance be of value to you?”

“You defeated my head guard,” Kai spits. “You almost defeated me within the walls of my home. Your skills might be of use to me, says my most trusted advisor.”

Sehun blinks, lowering his head. What should he do now? He could not refuse, he is not in a spot to refuse the offer. He is not certain that this is an offer.

“Do we have a deal?” Kai asks, licking his lips as his languid gaze travels down to Sehun’s exposed knees.

“No,” Sehun says. “I do not trust you.”

That surprises a loud laugh out of Kai. “You are right not to. I suppose you do not shake hands with the devil.”

“I am a Slayer. I grew up worshipping the devil and god alike. I do not shake hands with a traitor.”

Kai nods his head considerately. “We could have this played in another way, too. I _make_ you do as I say without offering anything in return.”

“But you will not.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he smirks. “Is there something you want more than your freedom?”

Sehun kneels up straighter between Kai’s legs. “A fair fight. With you.”

Kai’s eyes rake Sehun relentlessly and he bites his lower lip, watching Sehun without a word on his tongue. Then he says, “You are a peculiar thing. Tell me. Why are you so keen on having me dead?”

“Because you do not deserve to live.”

“Fair point,” he scoffs. “And if you lose again?”

Sehun swallows the lump that begins to rise in his throat. “I will be your _bitch_ for as long as you want before you can discard me.”

“Interesting,” he hums and takes a sip of the wine. Sehun’s gaze falls on the prominent black mark on the inside of Kai’s wrist. It resembles a star, looks almost like a hex. “I admire your determination and dedication.” Sehun’s eyes flit back to Kai’s face. The rat-arsed bastard is flushed and looks impassively torpid. “I was wondering… where would I need to break you for you to feel real pain. Which part of your body should I ruin for you to be broken.” He leans forward and clutches Sehun’s collar chain. “You are not broken, are you? You are strong. You are… determined.” His eyes lower to Sehun’s collarbones and he drags a finger along the scar of a cut there. “No matter how many times I cut you or whip you, you will not break, will you? It vexes me,” he whispers. “You had the guts to barge into my bedchamber to kill me. You had me at your sabre point. You do not kneel even to save your life. Not even a Vagabond Slayer will have the tenacity you do. You are driven by a motive. Something more powerful than a motive. Hatred. Malaise. Dissatisfaction.” He cups Sehun’s chin and pulls his face close. “Perhaps… the strongest incentive of all. Vengeance.”

“Perhaps them all,” Sehun breathes out and Kai leans back, letting out a laughter.

“I want to bend you and then break you, rip you apart in a way you will never be able to forget the pain I gave you.”

“You and I share the same intention for each other,” Sehun spits and Kai jolts up to his feet.

“A fight with me at the end of our journey. You have my word. It will be fair and should you fail to be victorious, I will continue to keep you as my bitch.”

Sehun rises to his feet and meets Kai’s dark eyes. When Kai moves to the bedside, Sehun follows him. “Would your word stand when you are sober?”

Kai smirks and he picks a thin chain up from the bedside table. He holds the fine, elegant gold chain before Sehun, who stares at it in utter confusion. It is long with hooks at its ends. “My promise to you.” The air in Sehun’s lungs is completely knocked out when, without a forewarning, Kai shoves him back. Sehun falls back on the bed and grunts at the impact against his flogged back. “Where should I break you, my little bitch?” Kai moans, bringing a knee up to the bed. Sehun could only stare at him. He is completely lost. Kai certainly seems drunk, but he sounds entirely coherent.

Sehun’s voice does not come out when Kai clutches the chain linking his wrist shackles together and raises it over Sehun’s head. The chain joining the collar to the shackles rests on Sehun’s face when something clicks. He begins to panic with his blood running cold. “What… are…” he trails off, realizing that his wrist shackles are locked to another chain on the bedframe above his head.

“Until I free you, until you win your fight, you are mine,” Kai purrs, locking each of Sehun’s ankle shackles to the bedframe. Sehun’s body paralyzes and his breathing quickens. _No, no, no._ Not this. He can endure any sort of torture, but not this. Kai is his brother nonetheless. This form of intimacy they can never share. “Your body included.”

Sehun gasps when Kai rips his tunic all the way down to his stomach. “S-stop,” he rasps, alarmed and horrified. Kai pauses for a moment to stare at Sehun’s chest and stomach, and he licks his plush lips.

“All these cuts and wounds. They suit your beautiful complexion. I should mark your body more often.”

“Stop this!” Sehun hisses.

“I _am_ King, you bitch. You do not order me. Just because I am being kind to you, it does not mean I am nice. Do not take my kindness for granted.” He curls a hand over the collar around Sehun’s neck before he drags his palm down Sehun’s chest. _No, cut me, hit me, kick me, but not this. Don’t touch me._

Sehun wants to pretend like it does not bother him. But he could not. Every inch of his sternum that Kai’s hand touches hauls a reaction out of Sehun.

“Hmm…” Kai drones, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip as he lightly presses his hand to the planes of Sehun’s stomach. “Just as I thought.”

Sehun, out of breath, arches his back off the bed when Kai draws his hand lower. That is when Kai slips the fine gold chain under him and hooks it around Sehun’s waist. “What are you doing… What is this?”

“For as long as you wear this, you are my bitch, understand? You can take it off when you win the fight you want so badly,” he spits and gets off the bed. He does not even bother to unlock the shackles linked the bedframe as he storms out of the chamber. Sehun, panting hard, gazes down at the chain around his hips.


	9. Chapter Seven

The infirmary is not precisely a chamber Sehun is most familiar with. He might have been here once or twice in his younger days, but the healers always attended him in his bedchamber whenever he fell ill. So, he lets his eyes scan every inch of the chamber, every nook and cranny, which could provide him with an escape route. He finds none. Even the windows are barred shut.

He lets out a hiss when the healer applies a salve on the fresh wound on his shoulder. “Do you plan on acquiring wounds every day of your captivity here?” the old woman harrumphs, covering the wound up. Sehun keeps mum as he ponders about Kai’s mystifying offer. It seems like he needs a Vagabond Slayer, or at least someone who is as adept and anomalous as a Vagabond Slayer. A journey, he had said. What sort of a journey could need the assistance of a Vagabond Slayer and if Kai is willing to make the Slayer that had come to kill him an offer, he must be quite desperate.

It has been some time since the sunlight had befallen the night and Sehun has not been tormented thus far. Not in the painful, nightmarish sense, at least. However, the thought of being bound to Kai’s bed like he was last night terrifies him. He can endure the pain. But he cannot bear to relive the intimacy he had once shared with the brother he so cherished a long time ago. Everywhere that Kai’s hand had touched burns. Still burns. His touch could leave a scar deeper than of a whip’s.

“You have a remarkable ability to withstand pain,” the healer says in a low voice as she pulls the tunic’s sleeve back up and lets Sehun lace up.

“Have you seen my face?” Sehun asks without any hint of mockery in his tone. The healer simply smiles and the wrinkles show themselves more prominently on the corners of her lips.

“The salve I’ve aided you with will heal your wound in the blink of an eye. Even so, do not strain your shoulder for at least a couple of days. Here,” she picks up the cup of liquid from the tray held by one of her helpers. “Drink this.”

“What is this?”

“Something to help you sleep through the pain tonight.”

“I’m fine.”

“Drink it anyway,” she insists and hands Sehun the cup. Upon giving the content of the cup a once over, he takes a sip. It is bitter, but there is a tinge of honey in the water. He drains the cup with a single gulp and hands the cup back to the healer. “The King has ordered us to take good care of you and that we see to your immediate recovery promptly.”

Sehun blinks. “Why?”

“I do not question the King’s orders,” the healer says.

Their attentions are averted to the doors that creak open before Sehun’s eyes widen a little when they fall on Tia. She looks a little tired, but her exhilarated eyes mirror Sehun’s. “Your Majesty,” the healer bows and her ladies follow suit.

“Whatever has happened to your shoulder?” Tia gasps lightly, gaping at Sehun’s shoulder.

Sehun does not answer. He could not answer. He could even bring himself to open his mouth. He could only stare at her. Tongue-tied and horrified. _She knows_.

“Son, you ought to answer the Queen,” says the healer, smiling faintly. Sehun ignores her and lowers his head. “My Queen, if I may take my leave.”

“Certainly, you may. Thank you,” Tia slightly tips her head to offer her gratitude. Sehun sits up straight on the edge of the bed and looks to Tia, whose eyes are raking him. “Have you… eaten?” she asks in the tiniest voice. “Um… I have personally asked the cook to make you something decent to eat.”

Sehun stays silent.

“What has he… done to you?” she asks. “Did he do that to your shoulder?”

Letting out a sigh, Sehun says, “You know who I am.”

Tia, wearing an indifferent expression, glances away, biting her lower lip. Sehun gets off the bed to face her.

“How could you marry him?” he spits, keeping his voice low so that the guards outside will not hear him. “How could marry the man who betrayed his own family and killed the man who loved him like his own son?! He bit the hand that fed him!”

Tia closes her eyes and when she opens them again, they are brimming with tears. “Y-you… you’re… You should not have come here.”

“ _I_ should not have come here?! He murdered my family! And yet, here _you_ are, sharing a bed with him, sleeping with a murderer!”

“Enough!” she cries. Sehun has never been close to her even as a child. He always thought they were worlds apart. Tia was a lady even back then and Sehun was just… a boy who liked to do everything that Tia didn’t approve of. But meeting her like this, grown and bloomed, Sehun wished he had been at least good friends with her. “Do not be presumptuous,” she lets out. “You left. You never came back and now that you have, you failed and he still reigns.” She crosses the distance between them. “It _is_ you. I cannot believe it is you. You are… alive,” she whispers as a tear rolls down her rosy cheek. She raises her hands to Sehun’s face, and though Sehun does not flinch away from her touch, he closes his eyes when Tia’s palms cup his cheeks. “Sehun,” she exhales, soft thumbs gently caressing the scars on either corner of Sehun’s lips.

“How did you… know it’s me?” he asks in a raspy mutter, leaning closer and into the touch.

“How could I forget those eyes I can never stop dreaming of?” Her whispery breath grazes Sehun’s lips as she drags her fingertips along the deep scars on his face.

“Tia.” He grabs her wrist, but does not pull her hand away.

“I am so sorry you had to go through all of this.” She falls forward and buries her face in Sehun’s chest before silently sobbing into it.

Sehun hesitates and for the first time in a long time, his hands tremble as he lifts them to stroke through Tia’s long, luscious hair. “Why did you marry him, Tia?”

She pulls back, staring into Sehun’s eyes. “I had no choice.”

Sehun sighs. “You will not tell him.”

“If I wanted to, I would have already,” she pulls away completely and wipes her cheeks. “You have to leave. I will—”

“No. I am not going anywhere until I kill him.”

“You will not be able to do that by staying. He will kill you.” The concern in Tia’s eyes is so palpable that Sehun’s heart clenches.

There is a knock on the door and they both freeze for a moment. “Tia,” Sehun whispers. “I need you to trust me.”

Then swallowing hard, Tia nods. “Come in,” she calls out and when a man enters with a tray full of food, Tia shakily smiles at him and takes her leave.

The guards are still swarming outside and Sehun fights the urge to rip the hip chain Kai has put on him off. He looks to the old man who has stepped in with the tray. He blinks his eyes rapidly, staring at the man.

“You are the King’s new pet, I heard,” the man says and Sehun’s heart skips a beat. The cook. He is the cook that had helped him get out of the castle. His was the last face Sehun had seen before he had left the castle to save his life.

“I beg your pardon,” he mutters, studying the aged man’s profile as the cook settles the tray on the table.

“I admire you for your courage, Slayer,” he spits grimly. “But you are a stupid lad to have come here.”

Sehun licks his lips and says, “Why do you say so?”

The cook brings his head up to flash Sehun a malicious smirk. “What has he done to you already?”

“He has done enough.”

“Oh, he will only be done with you once he has turned your bones into ashes.” He hands Sehun a bowl of soup. “Spinach soup.”

Sehun shakes his head. “Yet you serve a King that monstrous.”

“I do not serve him. My loyalty does not lie with him,” he snarls. “What would a hired killer like you know about loyalty? You should have killed him if that is what you had come for. You should have put that boy out of his misery,” he sighs and presses the bowl into Sehun’s hands.

Sehun grabs the bowl. “What do you mean?” he lets out.

The cook turns to slice the meat.

“What do you mean?” Sehun asks again. “Are you pitying… him?”

“I’ve known since he was a baby,” the cook says, plating the sliced meat. “He was the noblest Prince of all, though he was not even a real Prince. He was the Kingdom’s pride, the family’s honour despite being the Queen’s bastard child. He was kind to every soul. He doted on his dear little brother and spent every little moment he had with his brother, the true Prince of Havegnia. The lost Prince,” he trails off for a moment, lowering his head. Then sucking in a breath, he says, “I refuse to believe a boy that unselfish, generous, righteous and honest would turn into a dastardly demon to achieve his goals.”

“Perhaps you have underestimated his thirst for power,” Sehun says. “and the coldness of his heart.”

The cook turns to face him. “Perhaps his heart was frozen by an external power. Perhaps his frozen heart stand in need of someone to thaw it.”

“Are you saying… he’s been… No, that is hogwash.”

The doors bang open and Sehun’s eyes dart to the guard, who barges into the chamber. “If you are done serving, get out, now!” one of them yells at the cook. The old man bows and storms out of the infirmary with a perturbed look on his face. The cook’s words ring in Sehun’s ears. _No, the cook’s intuition is a baloney_ , he thinks. It can’t be. Kai cannot possibly be cursed.

No.

The black star on Kai’s wrist. Sehun has seen hex marks as such before. His stomach lurches and his blood runs cold as he loses his breath.

It can’t be true. That is not even an option. No.

 


	10. Chapter Eight

The closed arena is swarmed by liveried men, all brandishing swords as they leap from one end of the arena to the other. The men are all heavily built, thick with muscles. Blades clash as the men vault forward toward each other, crying out profanities. And high on his throne, Kai watches them brawl with great intensity in his eyes. He turns his head to meet Sehun and a corner of his lips quirk into a threatening smile before he returns his attention to the fighting men again. Sehun, unsure of what he is supposed do, stands silently and studies every move employed by the men. They are good, but hardly any match for his own or Kai’s swordsmanship. They are fighting for the sake of fighting. There isn’t any calculative move, which Kai had so brilliantly executed on the first night of his struggle with Sehun.

Out of the sudden, Kai waves his hand and the men halt, swords hanging mid-air and chests heaving laboriously. Rising from his throne, Kai wends his way regally down the steps. “I would like you all to meet my ‘almost’ killer,” he announces and Sehun notices the indifference in the men’s faces. However, some of them grimace, eyeballing Sehun’s scarred face. “And,” Kai chimes, edging closer to Sehun. “These are the men who will be accompanying me on the journey. The finest, most skilled swordsmen in all of Havegnia. But you must have noticed. They are not half as good as you are.” The men seem to be taken aback by Kai’s blatant remark. “So,” he turns to face the men. With a single look from him, the men are obviously struck with fear and trepidation. “Whom do you deem worthless, Slayer?”

Sehun wonders what is Kai’s angle in this. He could not possibly be wanting Sehun’s advice on his choice of members of his battalion. When Sehun does not answer, Kai pins him with an odd look. His eyes briefly wander to Sehun’s lower abdomen, as though they could see the waist chain through the tunic. Sehun shudders silently.

“They could not protect what you couldn’t yourself,” Sehun says at last.

“I thought as much,” Kai lets out a breathy laugh. “But a King needs his troops. And these are loyal men.”

Sehun meets his repulsive eyes. “Loyalty wavers. What’s steadfast one instant may not be remotely as devoted the next.” His words are full of spite. “You of all should be well-aware of the notion, no?”

Kai’s smirk falters. “Well spoken, pet. Perhaps loyalty is not what I deem most valuable here. Would my men qualify to convoy me?”

“You already know the answer. Whatever that I may say would not influence your decision,” Sehun states tiredly and turns his gaze away. His mind is still full of thoughts after what the cook had relayed to him. Unconsciously, Sehun’s eyes dart to Kai’s wrist. The sleeve of his shirt conceals the black star and Sehun begins to worry his bottom lip.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kai says, “Take him to his cage,” he commands the guards. _Cage_. Noticing Sehun’s confusion in his expression, Kai leans in and whispers into Sehun’s ear. “A pet bitch belongs in a cage, does it not?” His hot breath grazes Sehun’s ear and for a quick moment, Sehun thought Kai’s lips are brushing it. Pulling back, Kai smirks again. “I hope you will rest well, Slayer. Do not disappoint me. Oh, and, guards,” he turns to face them. “No one is to lay even a finger on him hereon. He is only mine to touch,” Kai’s eyes look upon Sehun’s again. “And hurt.”

“Yes, My Lord,” says a guard firmly.

Sehun is then dragged away. He is not brought to the infirmary. The guards escort him to a chamber in the east wing. Kai was not joking. A huge cage of golf stands in the middle of the chamber. There is a luxurious bed inside the barred cage. And a door leading to the bath chamber. A table beside the bed, topped with a platter of food and a chalice of clear water. This is what the gold chain around Sehun’s hips entails. He is Kai’s _bitch_. His _ugly bitch_ , as Kai had simply put.

 

~*~

 

_“One bean, two beans, three beans.”_

_“Sehun, eat your beans,” Kai chides gently and Sehun looks up at his brother. Ignoring him, Sehun continues to pick the beans on his plate, setting them in order on Kai’s plate instead. “I cannot always eat your beans for you.”_

_“Four beans, five beans, six beans.”_

_“Sehun,” Kai sighs heavily and catches Sehun’s hand, which looks and feels unbelievably tiny in Kai’s huge hand. Sehun, once again, glances up at his brother with wide, innocent eyes. “Mother will be furious if she finds out I committed this crime with you. Again.”_

_Sehun giggles. “She won’t find out. The beans will be in your tummy.”_

_“When they should be in your tummy.”_

_“Please, Kai,” Sehun pleads. “They have a horrible taste.”_

_Kai shakes his head. “Okay. At least finish all the carrots and I will eat the beans.”_

_“Okay.” He pauses for a moment, staring at the stubby carrots on his plate. “Kai?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“Can I sit on your lap and eat the cawots?”_

_Kai picks him up and settles him on his lap. He sticks a fork into a carrot piece and hands it to Sehun. “Now, eat.”_

_“Will you play with me after lunch?”_

_“I cannot, Sehun. Not today. I have a private meeting with the envoy from Reziwin.”_

_“You’re always busy these days,” he sighs with a pout._

_Kai ruffles Sehun’s hair. “Eat your carrot.”_

_“I’ll eat my cawot.”_

 

~*~

 

Days have passed and Sehun tries to keep himself together in his luxurious imprisonment. The Healer had visited him twice to check his shoulder wound. Servants brought in food and made certain that he takes his bath. King’s orders. He likes his bitches clean. Held in a cage, Sehun has had some time to think and sort his thoughts out. The weirdest thing has happened in that moment. He realizes that if Kai is indeed hexed as the cook surmises, he might have killed Kai for an invalid reason. And the guilt that strikes him leaves him sick to the stomach.

But what if the cook is wrong? And there is a bigger chance that he is. Sehun has to know for certain. What if Kai is still redeemable? As the cook had said, what if something could thaw his frozen heart?

Why should that change anything at all? Kai _did_ murder his parents. Kai almost killed him, too. Why should he be redeemed at all? Sehun would never be able to forgive him either way.

The chamber door creaks open during the ungodly hour of the night. Sehun rises from the foot of the bed where he has been sitting on for hours and stares at the intruder. His heart immediately sinks when he realizes it is Tia.

“What are you doing here?” he whispers as Tia hurries to the cage.

“I had to see you,” she says in a low voice, grabbing onto the bars. “God. What has he done?”

“Tia, you should go before he finds out.”

“Sehun,” she chokes on the name for a beat and Sehun’s breath hitches. Hearing his name uttered like that brings forth myriad of fond memories he wishes to forget. Tia looks to the lock and frowns. “He is treating you like an animal.”

“He called me his dog,” Sehun scoffs. “Tia,” he hesitates for a moment, but when Tia does not protest, he gently cups a side of her face. She leans into the touch. “I will be fine. Worry about yourself, please.”

Tia looks up at him with watery eyes. “It is not fair. You should be King. This… shouldn’t have happened to you. He has grand plans, Sehun. You have to stop him.”

Sehun retrieves his hand and stares at her. “What grand plans?”

“He seeks the Spirabiliz of Immortality.”

There is nothing that Sehun could do to hide his shock. His jaw falls and his eyes bulge out. “Wh-what?”

“He is going to leave to find all six pieces of them at first light tomorrow.”

“The Spirabiliz is impossible to be found by a mere mortal,” he says through his grit teeth. He has heard enough stories about the Spirabiliz and more from his Master. No man is meant to find those enchantments once brought from the magical Kingdom of Reziwin. Centuries ago, ancient Servanyans sought the Reziwinian enchantments. Long before the existence of Havegnia, long before the dreadful fall of the mighty and prosperous Kingdom of Servanya and their Kings. Such magic and enchantments rarely exist now, but some do. And they should never be found.

“Kai is no mere mortal,” Tia says. “And neither are you. You have agreed to help him and Sehun, I can only imagine the destruction this will bring.”

Sehun clasps a hand to his forehead and sucks in a breath. “I cannot stop him, Tia.”

“Yes, you can. You _must_.”

The sudden clattering outside the chamber alerts them both. Tia pulls away from the cage with a woeful look in her eyes.

“Please. Don’t let him get his hands on all six of the Spirabiliz.” With that, she quickly and quietly left the chamber.


	11. Chapter Nine

The men stand by their horses, all critically staring at Sehun as they await their King. Sehun tries to ignore those condemnatory glances and fixes his attention on the drawbridge. Beyond it, Havegnia thrives under Kai’s reign. But in here, only Kai’s tyranny and cruelty flourish. What sort of a King is Kai beyond the curtain walls of the castle, Sehun wonders.

“Lost in your thoughts, are you?” a feeble voice with a subtle tone asks and Sehun turns his head to meet an elderly man’s smile. “I am delighted to meet such a young Vagabond Slayer as you.”

Sehun could not help but scowl. “I am enslaved here, therefore it is not such a delight for me.”

The old man holds onto his smile. Sehun is at least glad that this man is not sneering at him for becoming the King’s bitch. He is also glad to be standing out here near the garden he once used to run around, playing hide-and-seek with Kai. The servants had him bathed and dressed in riding raiment early in the morning. Though Sehun is not carrying a sword as the rest of the men, he is grateful that he is allowed to wear pants. He did not miss the way the servants eyed the gold hip chain around his waist when they attended him. It has branded Sehun as Kai’s and for the time being, there is nothing that Sehun could do about it.

“I have come to see my King off,” the old man says. “I am Harmel. Head Scholar of the royal court.”

Sehun looks away, clenching his jaw. He has nothing to say to this man who serves a disloyal bastard. He gazes ahead at the drawbridge. He will not be a free man when he passes the drawbridge. Not as long as he wears the chain Kai put on him.

“He is a true King,” the scholar mutters and Sehun finds himself glaring at the man, who still smiles. “And do you know what true Kings covet? Everything they cannot procure. It pleasures them in acquiring such valueless prizes. They want to take Queens who do not love them. They want to win wars they cannot win. They seek treasures they cannot find. They desire Kingdoms they can’t touch. They want everything that they cannot be in their possession. A commoner may covet for petty things such as money and gold, but a King, who has it all, is consumed with the desire to take possession of things and people that challenge their ability.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrow into a frown. “Why are you telling me this?”

“He hasn’t _enslaved_ you,” he smirks behind the thick grey beard. “He has taken possession of you because you are unobtainable and that makes you unbelievably priceless for a King like him.”

His stomach lurches, but he swallows and scowls. “He is a fucker,” he hisses under his breath. “That is all there is to say about him.”

The scholar looks astonished. “You will find out that there is more to him than just that.”

The guards take their positions once again and Sehun’s eyes dart to Kai, who struts majestically towards his steed. His horse is as black as a starless night sky. The beast would send shivers down children’s spines. His eyes meet Sehun’s and he lifts his eyebrows in an arrogant manner with a playful smirk etched on the corner of his lips. Sehun glances away at once.

“Your Majesty,” the scholar bows before Kai, who tightens the laces of the riding glove on his hand. The gloves cover only his palms and half of the fingers. “Had I the energy of a young man, I would have offered my service of convoy on your journey. I apologize.”

Kai’s eyes are on Sehun, his uncomfortable, piercing gaze is all on Sehun. “You have helped enough, Scholar Harmel,” he says.

“You would journey to Iugis foremost, yes?”

Iugis? A province of the ancient land of Servanya, which is now scattered into different provinces. Sehun wonders if Kai seeks for a Spirabiliz in Iugis. “Yes.”

“I will take my leave, then, Your Highness. May you have a safe journey.”

“Keep at my Queen’s side in the court while I’m gone.”

“You need not say, My Lord.”

Sehun glances to the guard who brings a tawny brown horse to stand beside him. After pinning Sehun with a scowl, he bows to Kai and walks away. Sehun quickly raises a hand to pat on the horse’s neck when it prances.

“You will need a horse to ride on,” he hears Kai say and he turns his head around to face Kai before immediately regretting the decision. Kai presses a gloved hand to Sehun’s hip as though to remind Sehun of the chain and Sehun shudders at the hot touch. Kai’s eyes lit up with a sudden fire and he grips the side of Sehun’s hip, hard enough for Sehun’s throat to make a harsh noise. He steps away, snarling at Kai as the King retrieves his hand. “His name is Aristo.” He jerks chin head towards the horse beside Sehun.

Sehun freezes as his breath catches. He stares at the horse with horror and his heart clenches painfully. He gently strokes the glorious horse’s mane, furiously blinking away the tears in his eyes. “Aristo,” he whispers, leaning in to press his forehead against the horse’s neck.

“Mount!” Kai orders and swings onto the back of his black horse. His silver, bejewelled sword shines radiantly at his side as he grips the reins of his horse. All men mount upon his order and a man rides up to Kai’s side. “Ride ahead with your troop, Felix.”

Sehun assumes Felix is Kai’s captain. He does not care about that. He does not care about anything at the moment. He climbs onto Aristo’s back and fights the urge to hug the horse. It is Aristo. Aristo!

 

~*~

 

_“How many times must I tell you to not to play in the training arena?!” Sehun could not stop the tears that flow down his cheeks. “Sehun, are you listening to what I’m saying?!” his mother yaps and Sehun’s neck hurts so badly from having to look up at his tall mother. He sniffles his nose, jutting his lower lip out as he silently cries while his mother yells at him. “I can’t have you running around dangerous places! You could have gotten hurt!”_

_Sehun finally gives up and breaks into a loud sob. He holds his tiny fists to his chest and cries as loud as he could for someone to save him from his mother. He promises to God that he will never eat any sweetmeats again if his mother stops scolding him. He is too short, too small before his mother. He is so insignificant. How will he scold his mother? Even his voice is not as loud as hers._

_“I’m sorry,” he says, but his voice only comes out as a shaky whisper, muffled by the sound of his wailing. “Mummy,” he cries as his mother continues to bark at him._

_“What is going on?” Kai’s voice booms into the hallway and Sehun gasps before he turns on his heel and runs toward Kai. He hugs Kai’s leg and sobs into his knee._

_“He is being so irresponsible. I have told him a million times to not to go into the training arena!” his mother crows and Sehun extends his arms up for Kai to lift him, to save him from his mother—the monster._

_Kai carries him up and Sehun locks his arms around Kai’s neck. Kai wipes the tears off his chubby cheeks and smiles kindly. Kai is kind. Their mother isn’t. She is mean. She is so mean. Sehun does not like her anymore. He wishes Kai is his mother. “I’ll tell him not to do it again, mother,” he says._

_“God,” his mother rubs her temples and starts to walk away._

_“Why do you go into the training arena, Sehun?” Kai asks, frowning as he carries him down the hall._

_“I,” Sehun gasps for air, rubbing his watery eye with the back of his hand. “I wa-was… loo-looking… f-for you. I… I uh-always l-look for you. Se-Sehun l-look for you.”_

_“I’m not the training arena all the time, Sehun,” he settles Sehun to sit on top of the staircase and pulls out a wrapped sweetmeat. “Here,” he smiles, handing Sehun the sweetmeat. “Now, stop crying.” He takes his seat beside Sehun and ruffles his hair. “I’ll tell you what. Whenever you want to see me, tell a servant, anyone, to come find me, all right?”_

_Sehun shakily nods his head, trying to unwrap cotton around the sweetmeat and he returns it back to Kai to unwrap it for him. Kai unwraps it and pops it into his own mouth. Sehun gasps, horrified by Kai’s treachery. “Nu!” he yelps, gawking at Kai’s mouth, trying to see if Kai has indeed eaten it._

_Then smiling and laughing, Kai bares his teeth, the sweetmeat between them. Sehun scowls and stands up so that he will be taller than Kai now. He bows his head, bites the sweetmeat away from Kai’s mouth before he runs as fast as he can, munching the sweetmeat._

 

~*~

 

They do not rest even when the sun has gone down. The forest chimes with the melody of cicadas and the wind silently breezes through the woods. Sehun glances up at the evening sky. Its velvety streaks of purple and orange leave him astonished. He gently pats on Aristo’s neck. Under some other circumstance, this would have been a beautiful evening. Sehun looks to Kai who has been riding by his side.

Kai catches him staring, but Sehun does not look away. Their gazes are locked, Kai’s lips slightly part as his grip noticeably tighten around the reins of his horse.

“We will camp here tonight!” he calls out to his men and dismounts. At a moment’s notice, the tents are pitched and Sehun personally attends Aristo while Kai has a word with his Captain.

Once Aristo is fed, Sehun decides to lay beside him and fall asleep. That is when a harsh grip on his arm turns him around and meets Kai’s carnal eyes. “Be a proper bitch and come attend me at once,” he spits through his grit teeth and releases Sehun’s arm before he storms into his tent. Sehun gulps and draws in a breath. He supposes he does not have any other option than to enter that tent and _attend_ the bastard.


	12. Chapter Ten

Sehun enters the tent with hesitancy. His stomach lightly growls, for the reason that he has not had a single morsel of bread since yesterday. He finds Kai examining a map splayed on the table, on which a lamp is lit, allowing very little light to spread across the tent. Exorbitant cushions and silks are scattered all over the bed of blankets on the ground. Sehun frowns at the makeshift bed. There is no place for him to sleep on besides the ground. Not that it bothers him, Sehun has slept on surfaces more unyielding and unforgiving than the ground. But the thought of being curled like an actual dog on the ground while its master slept on such luxury flips his stomach.

He tears his attention from the bed and fixes it on Kai again. Should he announce himself? No, Kai probably is aware of his presence and must simply take pleasure in making Sehun stand there, waiting for him to acknowledge his existence. Sehun curls his hands into fists at his sides. When all of this ends, he will have the chance to face Kai in a battle again. This time, Sehun is not planning on losing. And for that, he needs to have all of Kai’s weaknesses up his sleeves. What are his weaknesses? Sehun considers the scholar’s words from earlier.

_A commoner may covet for petty things such as money and gold, but a King, who has it all, is consumed with the desire to take possession of things and people that challenge their ability._

What is Sehun’s worth to Kai if Sehun makes himself obtainable?

His eyes drop to the star on Kai’s wrist when Kai rolls up the map and runs a hand through his hair, letting out an audible sigh.

“What’s in Iugis?” Sehun decides to ask, though is almost certain Kai would not divulge anything.

Kai finally looks in his way and emptily stares at Sehun for a moment. “Not your freedom. Oh, wait. It is not your freedom that you want, correct?” he advances forward. “You want me dead,” Kai says in a low guttural voice. He raises his hand to the side of Sehun’s head and almost gently cards his fingers through Sehun’s hair. Sehun freezes at the touch, but his hard expression does not soften. Kai’s eyes are raking the scars on Sehun’s face before they pause on Sehun’s lips. That is when Kai’s fingers tighten around Sehun’s hair at the back of his head and he brutally clenches the hair in a fist, tugging it back to arch Sehun’s neck. “Why do you want me dead?” he purrs, almost sensually as his fist tightens around the hair. He lifts a forefinger to Sehun’s neck and he traces the vertical scar along Sehun’s protruding Adam’s apple. Sehun refrains himself from shivering as Kai drags his finger down to his collarbone.

“Because you don’t deserve to live,” Sehun spits and his hand flies up to clutch Kai’s neck. A small smirk tugs at a corner of Kai’s lips when Sehun claws at his neck. “You’re a bastard King. This land isn’t rightfully yours to reign over. Do you even know who your father is?” Every word is laced with venom, but if Sehun can’t hurt Kai with his sword, then he sure as hell will hurt him with the truth. When they were young, Kai was his brother, his parents were Kai’s parents, too. Sehun would have given up the throne for Kai, that was how much he had loved Kai. The betrayal is unforgivable. “No. You were born to a nameless son of a bitch. You lived in the mercy of a King, who treated you as a confidante in his court, a prince in his wars, a son in his home. You belong beneath his feet, you scum of a by-blow. No matter what the people of Havegnia choose to believe, we all know how you rose to the throne.”

“For someone as young,” Kai says, his grip loosening around Sehun’s hair. “you surely do know an awful lot about me. This sounds more like a personal vengeance than a national frondeur.” He releases the hair and grabs hold of Sehun’s wrist before he tears Sehun’s clutch off his neck. He twists the wrist and eyes the ground, tacitly ordering Sehun to kneel. “For as long as you are wearing my chain, you are bound to me. You serve me as my dog. Now, unlace my boots.”

Sehun swallows as he slowly lowers to the ground. He wonders if Kai will sleep in Sehun’s presence. Sehun would not usually kill a man in his sleep, but he is not sure he will be able to hold back the impulse to slit Kai’s throat. No, Kai deserves to be brought down to his knees before the eyes of his men as Sehun ends him once and for all.

“You look beautiful on your knees,” Kai remarks, smiling smugly. Sehun clenches his jaw. “Don’t dogs lick their master’s foot?” Kai asks just when Sehun brings a hand to the laces. He looks up at Kai with a murderous glower. “Lick it,” Kai calmly orders, eyeing the boot.

“You will not make me,” Sehun spits, shooting up to his feet.

“All right, then.” He grabs a bundle of rope from the ground near the table and cocks his eyebrows at Sehun. “Let’s teach the disobedient bitch a lesson, shall we?”

“Wh-what?”

Sehun does not put up much of a fight when Kai yanks him to the table and bends him over it, slamming his face onto the table. Then lifting Sehun’s hands over his head, he rounds the rope around his wrists to bind them together and ties it to the hook on the edge of the table. With his arms stretched to the front and hands tied, Sehun tries to straighten up, but then Kai kicks his ankles apart. Sehun almost gasps when Kai tethers his feet to the table’s legs after spreading it apart. Sehun grips onto the edge of the table, unable to straighten himself up.

“Now, that is a good bitch,” Kai says as he drops on the bed behind Sehun. Sehun lifts his head, glancing back to Kai, but he could only manage to glare at Kai for a short moment before he has to turn his head away out of discomfort. Kai _watches_ Sehun, legs spread and all, as he reclines sloppily on the bed with an elbow propping him up, tossing berries into his mouth. Sehun looks back at him again and finds Kai smirking. “Tell me, then. If you had managed to kill me that night, what would have happened? Would you have become King?” Sehun swallows, panicking a little. “Since you have defeated the King. But… it would be considered as treason since you did not publicly challenge me to a duel. Tia would have become the Queen Regent. Would you have killed her, too?”

Sehun struggles with the rope. It is most certainly not a comfortable position he is in and Kai staring at him from behind does not make it any better. “You do not plan to leave me like this for the entire night, do you?” Sehun growls, tugging at the table until it moves an inch.

“If you try to free yourself, I will have you tied to a tree outside.”

“And that is supposed to be unpreferable to this?”

“Oh?” Sehun hears the Kai shift on the bed and glances back at him. Kai is making his way towards Sehun, unlacing his shirt enough to expose most of his bronze body. Sehun should not be paying attention to such things, but he is and he is wondering if Kai looked the same in his memories. No. The Kai he remembers was a boy. This is a _man_. A man with carnal desire and animal lust in his eyes. Sehun’s jaw tightens. “If you failed to kill me in the end, what then?” Kai asks in a low voice and Sehun shudders when Kai strokes a side of his waist over the waistband of the trousers.

“I will try again,” Sehun hisses through his grit teeth, trying to flinch away from Kai’s touch, but he has nowhere to go. Kai draws his hand along the back of the waist, fingering the hip chain, and Sehun is completely paralyzed when Kai pulls the hand down Sehun’s rear, lightly brushing along the crack over the thin fabric of the pants. Sehun loses his breath and gasps of air, pressing his forehead against the table. “S-stop…” he whispers breathlessly as Kai slides the hand into his shirt and strokes Sehun’s back all the way up to his shoulder blades. “Ah.” The moan that escapes his trembling lips is a big blunder.

Kai pulls his hand out of Sehun’s shirt and buries it in Sehun’s hair, fingers pressing into his skull. “Be it men or women, nobody has never not wanted to be in the grace of a King like me. You, who do not covet my throne, are bloodthirsty for something else.” he leans in, pressing the bare front of his body to Sehun’s back. Sehun chokes on his breath when he feels Kai’s sharp hips digging into his arse and cock pressing between the cleft. The heat of Kai’s chest and abdomen licks Sehun’s back and makes him sweat. “How does this make you feel?” Kai purrs into his ear, hot lips and breath grazing Sehun’s cheek. “So many scars, so many wounds, and yet, none rendered by love. That is a shame, don’t you think?”

_What. Is. He. Doing._

Sehun feels weak suddenly, as though there is no fight left within him. He almost begs Kai to let go of him, but if he does, he will validify Kai’s sick notion of him being able to feel vulnerable. “I am not one of your bed whores,” Sehun grumbles and reflexively shivers when Kai’s free hand snakes along his hip and stops at the inside of Sehun’s thigh.

“No. But I wonder… how far should I bend you for you to break?” he splays his fingers over Sehun’s stomach under the shirt.

He pulls away with a jolt abruptly and glances to the exit of the tent. Sehun finally breathes again, though his skin burns everywhere that Kai has touched. Kai stares at the mouth of the tent and unsheathes his sword before turning to Sehun. He undoes the rope and frees Sehun before handing him the sword.

Sehun stares at it, still frazzled from the earlier moment. “What—”

“Shh,” Kai hisses, holding the sword out. Sehun takes it. “You can’t fight without a sword.” He grabs another sword from the corner and heads to the exit of tent. Sehun drops his gaze to the silver sword in his hand. It is Kai’s sword. Did Kai just really give him his sword?

Sehun gulps, raising his head to glance to Kai, who is peering out of the tent. He resists the temptation to strike the sword through Kai’s back, but he is not a coward to do that.

“What are you—”

“Brigands,” Kai whispers, rolling his eyes. “Only fucking idiots would try to rob a King and his guards,” he groans and heads outside, twirling the sword in his hand. Sehun stares at his absence for a moment before hurrying after Kai.

Kai grabs Sehun’s arm and hauls him toward him, hiding behind a pole of the tent. Sehun shoves Kai away and surveys the area. He finds a group of brigands tiptoeing around the guards’ tents and horses. “Shouldn’t you wake your men up?” Sehun asks in a whisper.

“If the brigands have made this far, they have struck down the men at first watch,” Kai says nonchalantly, seeming completely relaxed about his men being slaughtered. “Come on. It’s rather fun to handle this on my own, anyway.” He smiles, twisting the sword and Sehun, for a very short beat, thinks that he sees the spark in Kai’s eyes, which he remembers so vividly. The look Kai always had when he was about to go hunting with Sehun’s father. The excitement in his eyes makes him look so young and vulnerable. Of course, that excitement right now is to kill people.


	13. Chapter Eleven

For an obscene moment, Sehun finds himself intrigued by the enthusiasm Kai exhibits as he sneaks up behind a brigand, clasps a hand over his mouth and skilfully slits his throat. The way he killed that brigand almost looks _humane_. Kai’s lips stretch into a wild grin when he glances to Sehun. Killing and brutality clearly excite him, and Sehun swears he has never seen someone as repulsive as him.

Kai is as heinous as a sin.

He _is_ a sin.

Sehun looks down at the sword in his hand and grips it tightly. Kai’s silver-branded sword is unbelievably light, it almost feels like another limb to carry, a part of his own body. To entrust an assassin who had come to kill him with such a possession of his honour either spells how brazen or careless Kai is. Knowing the kind of brass-bold bastard he is, it is probably the former.

He would not say that the idea of striking Kai with his own sword as they course around the tents, slitting the throats of the brigands, has not crossed his mind at all. It has, several times in fact. But Sehun knows it would be futile right now—he would not win. Not even with Kai’s own sword.

Sehun throws his hand over a brigand, who is peeping into a tent, and yanks him back before thrusting his sword through the brigand’s chest. When he turns around, he finds Kai mowing another brigand down. Sehun has not killed a lot of people, but he _has_ killed before. Even so, seeing the way Kai _enjoys_ killing makes him sick to his stomach.

Kai raises his head and meets Sehun’s gaze, cheeks full of colour. He looks aroused by all the blood on his shirt and hands. The ghastly look in his eyes causes Sehun to lose his breath.

Kai’s expression turns complacent all of a sudden and Sehun almost lets out a gasp when an arrow bolts past him before it darts through a brigand’s head. He glances to Kai’s Captain, who lowers his crossbow.

“Good shot,” Kai mutters, walking over to Felix.

“Your Excellency could not have called for us?” Felix asks, fixing Kai with an annoyed scowl.

Kai shrugs and grins, clapping his hand to Felix’s back. The Captain is several inches taller than Kai, probably older than him, too. He is also a lot more muscular and his handsome built is definitely commendable. If anything, he looks more like a King than Kai does. It is a shame he is serving such a monstrous bastard. Sehun feels nothing but contempt for him, too.

“You know how much I enjoy hunting alone,” Kai says, using the hem of Felix’s tunic to wipe the blood off his sword. “Help me clean this up, will you?” With a wink of his eye, he weaves his way back to his tent.

Sehun, after a moment of gaping at Kai’s nonchalance, turns to meet Felix’s hard glare. “He gave you a _sword_?” Felix says through a gritting set of teeth. “ _His_ sword. Help me recall, are you his slave or his guard?”

“Apparently, I’m his pet,” Sehun says and tosses the bloody sword over to the Captain, who catches it by the grip. “And it allows me unutterable privileges.” Like being tied to a table.

Felix’s expression softens a little. Just a little. “I hope you won’t get any ideas, _pet_ ,” he spits. “I heard he already had you flogged once. He won’t hesitate to do it again.”

“Do not worry. I’ve got a very thick skin,” Sehun snorts and walks away, heading back to Kai’s tent. He stops short just at the entrance of the tent. What will happen if he walks in there? Sehun retreats and gazes toward the trees. He could run, he could grab a horse and bolt away. Felix and some of the guards look busy discarding the dead bodies. They might not notice.

But why would he try to escape? The sole purpose of his existence is to kill Kai. And he is not going anywhere until he succeeds.

He finds Kai on the thick makeshift bed with his arm thrown over his eyes and a knee drawn up. He has not taken the bloody shirt off. He certainly can’t plan to sleep in it, can he? That is purely abysmal and even as a Vagabond Slayer, Sehun finds it gut-wrenching.

“If you are quite done ogling a sleeping man, do step in and strip me off my clothes,” Kai says without removing his arm from his eyes. Startled and a tad bit disappointed, Sehun enters the tent.

“How could you… even think of sleeping after killing all those men? They could have had families.” Sehun says, trying to sound more repulsed than upset.

“Why would such a matter bother a Slayer like yourself, whose existence is devoted to killing innocent people?”

 

“You are hardly any innocent.”

“True, but so is endeavouring to rob someone.”

Sehun falls silent as he drops to his knees beside the bed. Kai pulls his arm off his face and fixes him an impatient look.

“Well, I do not have all night,” Kai says.

Sehun sucks in a sharp breath. “You are perfectly capable of stripping yourself or call a servant.”

“Also true. But I’d rather you do it. Though if you prefer to be tied to the table for the rest of the night, that can be arranged, too. But perhaps this time, I will take back the trousers I allowed you to wear.”

Clenching his teeth, Sehun raises his hands to Kai’s shirt laces. He forces himself to keep his eyes and hands on the laces, but Kai’s penetrating gaze is devoutly fixed on Sehun’s lips. Sehun wishes he could drive a knife through Kai’s eye.

Kai’s chest is smeared with blood and Sehun notices the basin of water by the bed. He swallows as he slides the shirt off Kai’s sharp shoulders. Tossing the shirt aside, Sehun continues to stare at the blood on Kai’s bronze chest because he knows that is better than to raise his gaze and meet Kai’s eyes.

“Well?” Kai looks to the rag on the floor beside the basin of water.

Sehun fixes him a scowl. “No.”

“All right. Fetch me the rope, will you?”

Grinding his teeth, Sehun grabs the rag and drenches it in the water before brutally wringing it. He tries to not to tremble when he brings the damp rag to Kai’s chest. Kai is resting in a lazy posture, propping himself up on an elbow. Sehun slams the rag against his chest and scrubs it without a single drop of mercy like he is scrubbing a wall.

Kai lets out a grunt and pulls away, frowning at Sehun. “Be a little gentle?”

“It seemed like a tough stain,” Sehun mutters and notices a smirk playing on a corner of Kai’s chest. He extends a hand and wraps it around Sehun’s wrist, guiding it to his chest. Then slowly, he drives Sehun’s hand up and down his chest.

“Like that. Gentle.” He leans in and brushes his lips on Sehun’s ear. “Like a good _whore_.”

Sehun jolts up to his feet and hurls the rag on Kai’s face. “Tie me to the table.”

Kai’s eyes narrow as he sets the rag aside, still smiling smugly. He drops back on the bed. “Tell me something. What is the heaviest in this world?”

Sehun blinks at him. “Are you going to tie me or not?”

“Answer my question. What is the heaviest in this world?”

 _Your ego, you bastard._ Sehun bites his tongue. “Sins.”

Kai’s eyes widen a little. “What is worse than fire?”

“Anger.”

“What is more horrible than death itself?”

Sehun rolls his locked jaw. “Betrayal.”

“Is trust then more important than love?”

“Trust is the foundation of any sort of love.”

The smirk on Kai’s face falters as he regards Sehun with utter confusion and amusement in his eyes. Then without saying another word, he turns his back to Sehun, shifting on the bed.

Sehun drops to sit on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest.

 

~*~

 

_“Nooooo, Kai!” Sehun cries, cheeks stained with fresh, hot tears. “No, no! It’s hurting!”_

_“Shush, Sehun,” Kai says, applying the simple on the cut on Sehun’s thumb. “It won’t hurt anymore.”_

_Sehun sobs as he is seated on Kai’s lap with his head resting against Kai’s chest._

_“Shh, shh, now,” Kai whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of Sehun’s head. “It’s all right.”_

_“Nooooo,” he weeps as Kai wipes the wound with a clean cloth._

_“There,” he gently strokes around the small cut with the tip of his forefinger. “I told you not to play by the rosebush.”_

_“I… wanted to… get you a flower for your birthday,” Sehun mutters, stifling his nose and crying harder. “I’m s-sorry. I don’t… have flower.”_

_“Oh, Sehun,” Kai ruffles his hair. “I can kiss your booboo away.”_

_“Kiss it! Kiss it! Make it go away, Kai! Make it go away!”_

_Kai laughs. “Okay.”_

_Sehun clenches his eyes tight as Kai brings his thumb to his lips and kisses it._

~*~

The land of Iugis is far from what Sehun anticipated. It has taken them almost three days to arrive to the province and in that time, Sehun has made himself useful by caring for the horses, especially Aristo. He also thinks Felix has warmed up to him a little or he is at least not as hostile as he used to be.

When they finally reach the forest at the outskirt of the sacred province, Sehun wonders if the people of Iugis knew that they are harbouring a Spirabiliz, if that _is_ what Kai is looking for here.

“We are not invading the province, are we?” Felix inquires.

Kai keeps his gaze ahead as he gently strokes his black beast’s mane. “We are not. But should they resist, you are allowed to exercise aggression.”

Sehun grips Aristo’s reins. He can’t simply ride into a province and threaten the religious people of Iugis to hand over to their possession.

Kai abruptly jolts to a stop, yanking his horse’s reins. Felix halts the rest of the men. Then out of the blue, the canopies of the trees ruffle as branches snap.

A couple of tall men land on the ground, one brandishing a radiant blade and another a bow and arrow. Sehun’s jaw falls slacking when he notices their ears. Sharp and pointy at the end.

“Turn around and return to wherever you have come from,” the bowman orders. They are dressed in odd uncivilized clothing, which Sehun thinks dates to the ancient times.

Kai dismounts his horse and draws his sword. “What the hell are you?” he spits at the taller men.

The bowman’s eyes bulge out as he surveys Kai’s appearance. Then he unexpectedly lowers his bow. “Kai?” he says.

“How… do you know my name?”

“Stand down!” Felix commands the other tall man, still holding his sword up. The bowman brings a hand to his companion’s hand and forces the sword down.

* * *

(A/N) Guys, please check out my new Hogwarts, love triangle, SKAM fic >>> <http://archiveofourown.org/works/9302810> and leave some love :D 

 


	14. Chapter Twelve

“I believe I asked you a question,” Kai spits with a subtle tone of threat humming in his voice, as though to scare the oddly tall men into obedience. He has the peculiar bowman at sword-point and his crumpled appearance seems a little agitated.

“It is _you_ who had dared to intrude into Iugis, unwelcomed and you, malapert Havegnian, have caused enough trouble for the Priests of Avora the last time you were here!” the other man harrumphs, refusing to lower his radiant silver blade. “Bear my words, we will not allow you to march in here with your men yet again only to commit sacrilege. Turn around and leave.”

“I will warn you, Fae, I will not stand quiet and hear you barrage the King with such accusations any further,” Felix retaliates with baleful words as he takes a step closer to the man with long blonde hair.

“A fair fight ‘twixt you and I is mine to win, mortal man,” the man hisses, only provoking the Captain even more. “He is not my King as much as this is not your land and this _thief_ is no more than a poor travesty of a King.”

Kai lets out a tired sigh and withdraws his sword, sheathing it without any disagreement towards the charges placed on him by the stranger. “Perhaps a sincere expression of regret and remorse may appease you, _Lovarhkin_ ,” he says in the calmest voice Sehun has ever heard from him.

“Dare you address me as a _brother_?!” the enraged man roars with further hostility. “And remorse may never be associated with a dastardly man as yourself.”

“Brother,” the bowman says, placing a hand on his furious companion’s shoulder. “ _Fittaleh arames._ Calm yourself.”

“It’s a land I have pledged my loyalty to and it is my honour to guard it from thieves like you,” the man insists. “I have failed once, I will not again. You are not allowed in Iugis. Be gone!”

For Sehun who has never stepped a foot too far from Havegnia, this is all incredibly fascinating. He has only heard of Iugis to be a sacred province, inhabited by avid followers of religions. Who are these men? They certainly can’t be commoners, especially not with such a divine appearance. He is almost certain there is some sort of enchantment about them.

“They are Faes,” Felix says to Kai, who looks more exhausted than he should.

 _Faes_? As in mythical creatures of Servanyan folklores?

“I am aware of that, Felix,” Kai sighs. “Though I’m not sure who _you_ are,” he says, turning to the bowman. “And how you happen to know my name.”

“So, the prophecy is true,” the bowman mutters under his breath and swallows uncomfortably before he slings his longbow across his shoulder. “State your purpose for intruding the peace of the holy men of Iugis.”

“Aanrei!” the other man yelps in protest. “You cannot let these men in!”

“We shall hear him out, nonetheless, Iveus.”

Kai strides back to his horse and fishes out a box from the satchel. “Here,” he tosses it to the grumpier man, who immediately examines the content of the glossy onyx box. A blood-red ruby catches everyone’s attention at once. “I return the Jewel of Avora, which you presume I _stole_ from the Temple of Avora.”

The young Fae looks up at Kai with a scowl. “No matter. You are still a thief.”

“Why have you come here?” the bowman demands again.

“I have come for an armour forged by the smiths of Iugis,” Kai throws a lie right at the Fae’s face. Sehun swallows his protest, refraining himself from outing Kai and his devious plans to get his clutches on the Spirabiliz. “My men and I will be no trouble.”

“An armour for a battle?” the bowman inquires.

“Perhaps,” Kai replies curtly. “I wish to sail to a land far more dangerous than the ruins of your ancient land. I will be held indebted to Iugis if its smiths will grant me this favour. In return, I shall pledge my fellowship to the free people of Iugis.”

“You might need to appease the Priests.”

Kai nods his head. “Allow me and my men a couple of days of respite here.” The request is met with a shrill “no” from the fair-headed Fae.

“Very well,” is the response from the bowman.

“Aanrei!” the other protests.

“ _Arames_ , Iveus,” he snaps. “You may enter,” he says, turning to Kai again.

As they weave their way into the town, the two Faes accompany them on foot. “Faes?” Sehun whispers to Felix the first chance he gets once the Faes are out of earshot.

Felix bows his head in agreement. “It would appear so. I myself have only seen one when I was little.”

Sehun gawks towards the Faes leading the way. “How does… _he_ seem so calm about it?”

“Kai?” Felix asks. “I believe this is not his first time here. You and I need not know more.”

“Faes,” Sehun breathes out to himself. “They are… magical beings, yes?”

“That I am not certain of. Their kind is almost extinct, though. Each of them fades when their other half perishes. Perhaps only a handful remains and they guard blest and sacred cities of Lost Servanya such as this one.”

Sehun glances around him. The buildings are considerably tall, every brick free of dirt and grime. Bells continue to toll in harmony and many men and women roam the pristine stress in religious robes.

“What _prophecy_ was the Fae speaking of?”

Felix shrugs. “I’ll be damned if I ever understood what these fools believe in.”

“Do you know why we’re here?” Sehun asks in a low voice.

Felix arches an eyebrow at him. “Did you not hear him? We are here for an armour.”

“You believe that?”

Something like hurt crosses Felix’s expression. “I do not question my King and neither should you, pet.”

“Why would a _King_ need an armour forged by these people when he could have a Kingdom build him one?”

“The people of Iugis are handy with enchantments. An armour made by them will be blessed.”

Sehun wants to scoff at how brilliant Kai’s excuse for passing through Iugis is. “Where is he sailing to?”

Felix pins him with a scowl. “Enough with your questions. Do not take my amiability for granted, Slayer.” With that, he drags his horse to stride ahead.

“Halt!” a command thunders at the front. “Armed and sinned men are not welcomed in Iugis, by the name of Avora!” Sehun espies a man in robes with a simple gold circlet on his head.

“These men are here in the name of peace, honourable Bard,” the Fae with the bow says.

“Do you vouch for them, _Lovarhkin_?”

The Fae hesitates for a moment before replying, “That I may not, but the man is the high King of Havegnia.”

“All the more reason to turn him away.”

Kai rips his sword out and for a beat, Sehun’s heart pounds against his chest, terrified of Kai’s next action. Surprisingly, Kai drives his glorious sword to the ground and holding onto the grip, he drops to one of his knees and bows his head. “By a solemn covenant, I pledge my allegiance to the Great Lady Avora and her devoted votaries. I hereby commit myself to the teachings of Avora.”

The Bard seems horrified by Kai’s sudden action, but he places his hands on Kai’s shoulders and pulls him to his feet. “You are here to pledge your honour to the Sweet Lady?”

“That _and_ an armour from your finest smiths. In return for recognition of the Kingdom of Havegnia.”

 _Lies._ But Sehun is more impressed by Kai’s composure given the situation. He plans on passing through here without a fight.

“Very well,” the Bard nods his head. “I may accommodate a King, but not his company. These men may stay in the Outer Temple. They will be well accommodated there.”

“Thank you, but I need my Captain and servant by my side.”

The Bard agrees without a dispute. “This way, then.”

Sehun realizes he is the servant when the guards shove him forward after handing him satchels full of the King’s necessities to follow Kai into the building. It is just their first stop and he is already too tired of being bombarded with extremely new experiences.

The hall is furnished well, but it is the glass roof which catches Sehun’s attention. Glass is incredibly exorbitant to afford, but the entire hall is roofed by glass. A long table is set in the middle, though not topped with food.

“I will have the High Priestess of Avora come down and meet you,” says the Bard after showing Kai and his Captain to their rooms. “She might want to dine with you.”

Kai smirks and something tells Sehun there is something mischievous about that smug grin. “I don’t think she might, but if she does, it will be my pleasure.”

“If nothing else, I will take my leave, King of Havegnia.”

“That will be all. Many thanks to you again for your hospitality, Bard.”

As soon as the Bard excuses himself, Kai lounges on the bed and stretches his legs to the end of the bed. “Ah, this is nice,” he chimes and props himself up on his elbow. “You may retire for the day, Felix,” he tells his Captain, who still awaits his orders at the door.

As much as Sehun wants to just follow Felix into his room, he knows he can’t. So, with much aversion, Sehun enters the room and drops the satchels to the floor.

“Why are we here?” he asks, but Kai throws an arm over his eyes without giving him an answer. “What did you do when you were here the last time?”

That sparks Kai’s interest instantly. He sits up and faces Sehun with a brilliant smile. “I stole their deity’s precious jewel,” he whispers as though it is an exciting secret that he alone takes pleasure in owning.

“What? Why were you… here?”

Kai shrugs. “I was simply passing through. This city is… fantastic, don’t you think?”

Sehun pins him with a scrutinizing gaze. “Why do you seem to be in a jolly mood? Did you or are you going to kill someone?”

Kai raises his eyebrows in something like amusement. Then the unexpected happens. He laughs. He is _laughing_. And it is a sound that always resonates within him. “If they don’t give me what I want, then yes, I am going to kill someone.”

“The armour, you mean?” Sehun asks.

Kai scoffs. “Oh, you already know that’s not what I’m here for. You’re not a fool like Felix.”

“He isn’t a fool. He is simply your puppet.”

“Well said. But talks like that won’t get you far, little pet. I am not only here for the armour or so to say. I do need an armour and the last time I was here, I learned that the smiths of Iugis have forged armours for great kings and queens.”

“I thought these people are peacemakers. Religious.”

“They are walking contradictions,” Kai snorts. “If I had refused to leave, they would have initiated war with me first. Clearly, they’d have the aid of the Faes.”

“The Faes,” Sehun rasps. “They are… real.”

“I never believed in those children’s stories either. Not until I met a number of the Ytira Faes in Aldelia. It’s another sacred city. These Faes don’t possess magical powers as it is said in the stories, though. Not anymore, at least. Only a few lives. Mostly in the lands of Reziwin and the remains of ancient Servanya. Interesting creatures as they may seem, many of them are as old as their tales. In perhaps ten years’ time, none will remain.”

“What happened to them?”

“They are centuries old. Even they are to lose hope to live when the ones they love the most leave.”

Sehun could only gawk at how excited Kai seems as he describes his first encounter with the Faes in Aldelia. He almost sees the young, passionate and kind Kai in him. “Are you really sailing somewhere?” Sehun decides to ask while Kai is still in the mood to answer his questions.

“All these questions,” Kai snickers, much to Sehun’s dismay.

“Curious is all. You kept me in the dark all this while. I ought to know all this since I intend to be your end,” Sehun says, taking his seat on the floor.

“My end, huh,” Kai smirks. “We shall see about that,” he reclines on the bed again. Sehun stares at him for a moment longer. Why on earth is he in such a good mood? It is almost spine-chilling to see him like this. Especially without blood in his hands. Because it means he is planning something.

 

~*~

 

The Priestess is not far from what Sehun had initially expected her to be. Clad in blood-red robes with a ruby amulet around her neck, she enters the hall with two men dressed in brown robes at her sides.

Kai bows before her at once and Felix mimics his movements before Sehun follows. “My respects, High Priestess,” Kai says and when he straightens up, the Priestess’ hand strikes his face with a brutal slap.

Sehun lets out a gasp in shock and quickly clasps his hand over his mouth. Kai rolls his jaw and continues to smile at the Priestess. “I deserved that,” he says with a sigh.

A walking contradiction, Kai said. Sehun can see what he meant.

The young woman, perhaps a couple of years older than Kai, glowers hard that she might have burned Kai’s soul with her glare. “You lied to me about your identity, stole from my temple and you have the face to return and announce that you devote your allegiance to Her Greatness?!” she spits out those venomous words.

“And I am truly sorry for it all. I have returned to seek your pardon, High Priestess,” Kai says.

Sehun perks his head only to see that two Faes walk into the hall. “A fine evening to you, King Kai,” says the dark-haired Fae with the bow and a quiver of arrows. “My respects, High Priestess.” He bows before the Priestess.

Kai is staring at the Fae, but he does not say anything. “Do not trust my company?” he inquires the Priestess instead.

“I do not,” she says. “And I do not believe you are here with sincerity.” Her eyes flit to Sehun and she regards him with something like sympathy after noticing the scars on his disfigured face.

“You’re right. I need an armour. And your forgiveness, if I may add. Are you not known to grant amnesty to men who have erred?” he smirks in a way that softens the Priestess’ hard expression.

“We will talk after we eat. No man will starve in Iugis.”

“So I believe.”

They take their seats at the table while Sehun retreats to stand in the corner since he will have to wait until Kai feeds him with whatever that is left over after he has eaten.

“I hear that you plan to sail,” the High Priestess says. “Where to?”

Kai swallows the blanched turnip before speaking. “The Lands of Haragol.”

The High Priestess freezes with her hand on the bread slices. “That is a dangerous venture, even for a brash King like you.”

“I like a challenge,” Kai smiles. “I would love to see the mighty endeavours of the Great Kris-Hanrand of Haragol.”

The dark-haired Fae, whose name must be Aanrei winces hard as his eyes dart to Kai at once. Neither Kai nor Sehun misses the discomfort in the Fae’s expression. The other Fae, Iveus, has a tough time to manage even a small smile and has barely touched the meatless food.

“Mighty they are,” Aanrei says. “I knew the Great Kris-Hanrand of Haragol when he was still referred to as Kris.”

“You did?” Kai asks in a relaxed manner, as though it does not surprise him. “How exactly do you know everyone?”

Aanrei licks his lips. “I am old.”

“How old?”

“I lost count when I turned a hundred and fifty. It has been centuries since.”

“You must have seen plenty, then, _Lovarhkin_.”

“I have seen Kings and Queens rise and fall. I have seen my brothers and sisters thrive and fade,” he pauses, casting his eyes low. “I have seen… the love of my life die before my very eyes. I have indeed seen plenty, _Lovarhkin._ ”

Iveus beside him frowns and offers a soft smile as a comfort.

“Did you personally know the Great Kris-Hanrand of Haragol?” Felix asks with wide eyes.

Aanrei nods his head. “He was a good man.”

“Well, that isn’t how the story goes,” Kai interrupts. “He had tyrannized all of Haragol until the people feared him. Men cowered in terror when his name was heard. He had forced the son of Hanrand into marriage with him after raping him. He was called the Great for all the wrong reasons.”

Sehun could not help but scoff at the irony and Kai looks to him with a harsh glare.

“That is the story you are told, King Kai,” Aanrei says. “A story spun by men who coveted the Great ruler’s title and had succeeded in acquiring it through injustice.”

“We had attended his wedding,” Iveus says. “Naevius, our lost Prince, too. The Great ruler was not called Kris- _Hanrand_ for no reason. He loved his consort and shared with him the land he rightfully claimed and saved through a fair duel with the unjust ruler before him. They ruled Haragol with kindness during their glory days before they were both assassinated on the night of the naming ceremony of their adopted son… along with the child. All slain.”

Felix swallows hard and even the High Priestess and her followers seem a little bothered by the story.

“I am sure they left that part out of the story you’ve heard,” Aanrei says in a critical tone. “At their time, their love story was known to everyone in Haragol and Servanya. Hanrand was not… _raped_ as you had simply said. He was left broken-hearted by the woman he was to marry on his wedding day. Kris had saved his honour that day as men began to spread the rumours of Hanrand’s sterility and impotency to beget children. Since that day, Kris shared everything he owned with the son of the viscount. Land, gold, name, heart and soul.”

Kai has fallen silent. But he does not stay that way for long. “You spoke of a prophecy earlier,” he says.

“I did,” Aanrei nods. “But it is a matter I wish to talk to you about in private.”

The High Priestess neither seems troubled nor interested by Aanrei’s proposal. “Come by the temple at first light,” she sounds like she is ordering Kai.

“I will, High Priestess,” Kai says.

When the dinner is over, the High Priestess grants Kai the amnesty he seeks and blesses Felix before she and her followers leave the hall. “See to it that the men have settled,” Kai orders Felix, who bows and storms out the hall promptly.

“How did you know my name?” Kai asks Aanrei once he returns to the table. “I never did once utter my name here or in Aldelia. How do you know me?”

Aanrei rises from his seat and stands towering above Kai. He is surely older than Kai, but does not _look_ any older. “I do not,” he says. “The old Servanyan prophecy says that its rightful King will return to his land bearing the same name again.”

Kai only stares at him in confusion. “And?”

“I see now that you are a far less honourable man than I thought you’d be,” Aanrei sighs heavily and clasps a hand to Kai’s shoulder. “You bear his name, you bear his image, but naught else you do. I see no kindness in your soul. I hope you find remorse at the end of your journey, _Lovarhkin._ I bid farewell,” he takes a step back. “ _Alra Hadh._ ”

Kai’s expression turns grim and he scowls, but manages a quiet, “ _Alra Hadh._ ”

Iveus does not stop to bid Kai a good night as he follows Aanrei out, leaving a famished Sehun alone with the merciless King.

Sehun disregards the perturbance in Kai’s face as he picks up Kai’s plate and settles on the floor. Though Kai has allowed him to eat plentiful, it has to be eaten from his plate after he has eaten. It bothered Sehun for the first two days, but now he has gotten used to it. Besides, that is what dogs kept by careless men do, right?

Kai sinks in his seat at the table and does not pay Sehun any mind. Feeling a little comfortable with the lack of audience, he devours everything that is left on the plate.

“I am going for a bath in the river,” Kai announces just when Sehun is done draining the cup of water. Kai rises and wends his way to the door before stopping short to glance back at Sehun with a scowl. “I will need you to attend me,” he says through his grit teeth. Gulping the lump in his throat, Sehun stands up and Kai scans him from top to toe. “You could use a bath yourself. I suppose I should wash my dog every now and then, eh?” A sudden smirk takes form on his lips and Sehun’s blood starts to run cold. “Come along.”


	15. Chapter Thirteen

Kai does not have him in chains, he does not have him tied in a rope. In fact, he hasn’t any sort of leash on Sehun—besides the obvious hip chain he had so generously provided—and Sehun could not help but wonder what has sparked Kai’s sudden faith and credence in Sehun. Though Kai does carry his admirable sword at all times, he is no fool to blindly trust that Sehun won’t try to kill him.

He is either has an unwavering surety in his capabilities and prowess as a fighter or he has greatly underestimated Sehun’s thirst for his blood. Either way, Sehun does not plan on killing him tonight. Especially not in the holy province of Iugis. Not that Sehun himself is a religious man, God no. But he holds some regard to hallowed lands and their inhabitants. Probably more than Kai does, at least.

Kai does not wait for him, clearly not worried that Sehun might not catch up, as he climbs over walls, trudges on edges like a steady cat and gracefully dances on the heels of his feet, remaining in the shadows in order to wend his way to the said river without arousing any attention. Lamps are lit in the streets, hymns are sung into the silence of the night and with every step taken, Kai and Sehun are further away from the city’s centre.

Again, Kai provides him with the opportunity to escape, but it won’t be one which Sehun would take. Vengeance safely resides on top of his to-do list and only by Kai’s blood will he erase it.

Or so he convinces himself. Even as he studies Kai’s spry movements on the balustrades, a part of him believes that when the time comes, the very part of him might hesitate to kill Kai… his brother, his only remaining family.

His father’s murderer. The Kingdom’s traitor.

It is a calm night and the stars alone are witnesses to that. Sehun would have enjoyed such a relaxing evening after a fulfilling meal and a good rest if only Kai had not dragged him out to sneak past the religious dwellers, all the fuss for a bath in the river.

They have a perfectly fine bathing chamber in the hall. He sees no reason to take a dip in a cold river, but he’ll be damned if he ever understood what runs in that thick head of Kai’s. And he certainly does not know why he is dragged along. Surely Kai is not thinking of giving his _dog_ a good scrub, is he? It is probably the other way around and even the thought of it leaves a sour taste on Sehun’s tongue.

But perhaps, Kai might slip a hint or two out about what he is really here for. If Sehun could at least guess it, he would have a good chance of preventing Kai from acquiring it.

 _Immortality_. If that really is what Kai is after, Sehun worries he might have a little trouble defeating him. What sort of a man would want to live forever? A King, yes. A power-greedy King, to be more precise. But to what extent shall this stretch? Eventually, Kai is bound to get lonely and will possibly be driven to insanity with time. The Spirabiliz, if it exists at all, would take its toll on whoever that consumes it because as far as Sehun knows, no ancient magic has ever come without a tag of a price of its own. If anything, Kai is still heading for his doom. Sehun just wants to be around to watch it when it happens.

“Here,” Kai says when they reach the river, its banks guarded by short walls.

Sehun’s mouth almost drools at the water that runs in a relatively slow current. It almost looks too fresh to be consumed. A vibrant cacophony of water flowers float on the surface, which reflects the star-studded night sky, blessing the entire river with purity and beauty.

“This is remarkable,” he lets out and slowly turns to Kai, who is hastily unbuckling his sword belt with a sheepish grin etched to his face. Sehun wonders if Kai is always this peppy whenever he is out on an adventure or trying to get himself killed. Well, the brother he remembers always loved a challenge and he can never forget the wild, hungry look Kai wore every time he was in the training ring and booting an opponent’s arse. Of course, at that time, Sehun had rooted for him, cheered from every corner for Kai to win. And every time Kai won, which is almost all the time, they would celebrate with a ride into the woods to pluck Honeyberries. Now, he just feels pathetic for having hero-worshipped this monster.

“What is this river called?” Sehun inquires, hoping that Kai would give him an answer instead of ordering him to _attend_ him and strip him naked.

“I don’t know,” he admits, pulling his boots off. “But I do know it is their holy river. Sacred, every single drop.” He grins from ear to ear, much to Sehun’s horror.

“And you’re going to _bathe_ in it?”

“Stark naked and all,” he winks and something tears inside Sehun. He almost looks… like Kai. The Kai he loved. “Well, don’t just stand there. Attend me. We haven’t gotten all night.”

So much for hoping. With a silent sigh, Sehun raises his hands to undo the buttons on Kai’s shirt and then the laces. “It is their sacred river. You aren’t supposed to wash your rump in it,” Sehun chides as gently as he could, letting the shirt slide off Kai’s sharp shoulders. It is a bit of a problem for him to not to stare at Kai’s bare body at times because hell, he is _perfect_ physically. He always has been and Sehun is a little envious of it. He might have grown half an inch taller than Kai, but nothing about his body is humane. Especially his face, which speaks the devil’s voice itself.

When he finally looks up, he catches Kai staring at his face. His ugly, scarred, marred face. That’s the thing. While everyone Sehun has ever come across refused to look at his face out of either disgust or sympathy, Kai only regards him with his eyes piercing into every ghastly scar that Sehun’s face bears. As though he wants Sehun to know that he is fearless and that he is not afraid of Sehun like everyone else. Not even by his appearance. And thanks to Kai, Sehun’s back is marred worse than his face.

Kai continues to stare at him and Sehun realizes he is tacitly insisting on him to strip the pants. Sehun’s mouth goes dry upon this realization. Thus far, Kai has never asked him to go further than the shirt.

“Who cut you?” Kai asks bluntly and it is Sehun’s turn to stare at him.

With a frown in his brows, he says, “Not an enemy.”

“You willingly let yourself… be cut?” Sehun could not tell if it is surprise or amazement in Kai’s eyes.

“Yes.”

“You love pain,” a smirk takes form on Kai’s lips. Sehun considers his remark for a moment. Does he love pain? No, of course, not. But pain is what keeps him going and it was all that had saved him in the past. Physical pain is easier to endure and serves as a great distraction against the pain of the betrayal of a loved one.

Kai starts towards the wall and easily makes it to the other side without forcing Sehun to help him get out of his pants. “I suggest you make haste and don’t make me wait for you,” he hears Kai say on the other side of the wall. “You’ve started to smell like Felix’s boots.”

Heaving a laborious sigh, Sehun works on undoing his shirt as he attempts to get to the other side of the wall. Kai has disappeared from the surface of the water, his trousers discarded on the ground. Kai _is_ indeed a mystery. He had killed his own guard who couldn’t best Sehun in a duel, tied Sehun to a table and touched him inappropriately, treats Sehun like an actual dog at times, and he surely exercises his kingly power over everyone including Sehun. However, now he is welcoming Sehun—his pet, his almost killer—to join him for a bath? There is a big chance Kai has a plan behind this, too.

Kai resurfaces, thoroughly soaked, and pushes his wet hair back with both hands—his back facing Sehun. Sehun uses the opportunity to quickly step out of his pants and hurry into the water. He is not conscious about his body, but he is pretty darn cautious about Kai.

Kai turns around with rivulets of water dripping from his chin as flowers and withered petals gather around him. A small smile of mockery stretches a corner of his lips.

“Water shy?” he asks and Sehun feels ridiculous for blushing, but he could not help it. He has never bathed with another person, not in a long while. Sure, he had bathed with Kai countless times when he was a child, but it is not the same anymore, is it? Nothing actually is.

Sehun maintains a good distance between them in the river as he cups water in his palms before splashing it on his face.

“Do you know that they call this the vessel of Avora’s tears?” Kai informs nonchalantly.

Sehun looks up at him with his eyes bulging out. If he isn’t sent to hell for having blood on his hands, he surely will be thrown to hell now that he has stained the holy river of Iugis with his dirt. He could have refused to do this, though. He doesn’t doubt Kai would have forced him to do it, anyway, but he could have tried to say no. But he did not.

So, now he is here, naked and defenceless, bathing in the tears of the Goddess Avora.

“Tears?” he decides to ask to divert the attention when he finds Kai staring at him again. It is difficult to keep his eyes to himself and something tells him Kai is having the same problem. Beads of river water trickles down Kai’s moonlit bronze body, collecting at the thin trail of wet hair below his navel.

“Yeah. She had her heart broken by her lover and went on a pilgrimage to heal her broken heart before she found this land and found asylum _and_ peace here. Men are arseholes,” he scoffs.

“You can’t heal a broken heart,” Sehun mutters to himself, checking his distorted reflection on the water surface. When he lifts his head, Kai submerges below the surface again and for the first few seconds, Sehun does not worry, but soon, he grows anxious when Kai does not resurface.

He almost retreats to the shore to ensure his own safety, but he stops short when Kai rushes back up to the surface, gasping loudly for air, only a few inches away from Sehun. With his usual smirk playing on his lips, Kai cards his fingers through his hair to push it back.

“What do you fear?” Kai asks in a low purr, closing the small distance between them and Sehun finds himself unable to retreat as his eyes bore into Kai’s. His hand flies up to cup Sehun’s chin and jaw, and he mercilessly grips it that Sehun lets out a hiss. Kai’s expression is smug and curious, and nowhere near ruthless or murderous. He snatches Sehun’s hand underwater and Sehun bites back on a gasp when Kai brings his hand to his chest. He forces Sehun’s hand splayed across the left side of his ribs. “What… do you fear?” he asks again, his grip tightening around Sehun’s chin as he yanks Sehun’s face so close to his own that he could feel Kai’s breath graze on his lips. His heart begins to race while blood pounds in his ears.

“I don’t know what I fear,” Sehun lets out in a whisper, keeping his eyes on Kai’s. “But it sure as hell is not you.”

Kai releases his chin, but keeps his grip on Sehun’s hand on his ribs. “That is a shame,” he lifts a finger to trace the scar on Sehun’s cheek, extending from the corner of his mouth. Sehun reflexively clenches his eyes shut. This is a bad idea. He never should have come. Not that he was given a choice. Something ignites within him. He isn’t sure if it is the sentiment for his brother he still dearly holds, but has carefully hid away or if it is fear he has been trying so hard to subjugate.

Then pressing his thumb to the corner of Sehun’s lips, Kai cups a side of his face and Sehun cracks his eyes open, only to see Kai tilting his head before he leans in to brush his lips on his cheek and presses a hard, firm kiss on the scar. Sehun’s breath hitches and he grabs onto Kai’s shoulder, digging his fingernails into Kai’s warm skin.

“You better start fearing me,” Kai breathes into Sehun’s ear before he releases Sehun completely and climbs out of the river. “Wash yourself quickly,” Sehun hears Kai say, but he does not dare to turn around and face Kai. He isn’t even sure if he is breathing anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's see if we can get to 2000 kudos by the end of February!! :D Thank you all for leaving wonderful comments and kudos, this story has received way more positive feedback that I had anticipated. My other stories—"Sightless Anathema" and "Enchanting Anathema" serve as possible prequels to King's Lost Prince. Those (and I'm sure most of you) have read those stories, so you guys will be able to find connections between the stories. Those who haven't read the Anathema Series, you really should give those prequels a shot ;) but if you don't want to, that's fine as well since it does not require you to have read those stories in order to understand this one. But there are a lot of easter eggs in this story which are related to the Anathema Series.


	16. Chapter Fourteen

“Is it to your satisfaction, Your Majesty?” the smith asks as he retreats to stand with his apprentices after presenting Kai with the armour

A gratifying smirk takes form on Kai’s lips, his eyes giving the armour a thorough once-over when he unwraps the linen covering the armour. “Quite,” he says. “Remarkable.”

Sehun unconsciously gawks at the armour, jaw falling slack. The ebony-black armour glimmers with blood-red rubies along the thorns of the shoulder clasps, the edges lined with platinum. The otherwise black and red armour is as dark as a starless night, as red as the blood on fire, its gauntlets, and boots just as fierce and regal as the rest of the armour. Sehun is entirely robbed of his breaths at the magnificent sight of the armour.

“The payment for your overnight hard work,” Kai hands the smith a pouch of what Sehun thinks must be gold. “And as for the sword I supplicated for?”

“I humbly beg for Your Excellency’s pardon, but if Your Majesty would kindly allow me another night to forge the sword, I will have it delivered at first light,” the smith answers, bowing his head for forgiveness.

“I cannot thank you enough. Take all the time you need.”

Once the smiths have taken their leave, Sehun draws nearer to the table to take a closer look at the breathtakingly august armour.

“This is absolutely stunning,” Felix remarks, lifting a gauntlet. “You were right, My Lord. Their mastery at smithing is truly singular and without parallel.”

Kai sinks in a chair at the table and picks at his cuticles. “Save some of your awe and evaluation for their unprecedented prowess in sword forgery.”

“I hope you won’t mind me asking, sire, but is there a need for another sword? Your blade was forged by the Stygians and it has no equal.”

“I do have a need for a sword forged by the smiths of Iugis.”

“I suppose the armour and sword are blessed with the enchantments of Avora?”

“I’m glad you picked up on that quick,” he sighs as though he has become impatient of the conversation.

“I noticed that you weren’t in your chamber last night,” Felix says with a hint of concern in his eyes.

“Went for a walk,” Kai smiles.

Swallowing, Felix says, “Do try to be wary, will you? And if you need to go somewhere, let me know. I’d come with you.”

“You and I both know I’m perfectly capable of saving my own neck. You just see to it that the men are ready to depart in the morning.”

Felix lowers his gaze for a moment and Sehun pins him with a soft look. “Yes, My Lord.” Without another word, the Captain wends his way out of the hall.

Sehun returns his attention to the armour. He has never seen anything close to something as majestic and exalted as this.

“So, this is what you look like when you are truly amused,” Kai scoffs and Sehun glances to him. He _is_ amused. More than he would like to admit. But a part of him is also envious of Kai. This armour might have been his if he were the King, as he rightfully should be.

“It is incredible that a province so peaceful and sacred could also forge something as strikingly infernal as this,” he lets out, examining the armour again. “That too on such short notice.”

“It is the enchantments I’m more interested in,” Kai says, rising to his feet.

“Your Majesty,” the hall keeper enters with a set of folded garments in her arms. “The apparel you had requested, Your Majesty.”

“Ah, wonderful timing,” Kai chimes and jerks his head toward the table before tossing another pouch of coins to the keeper. “Leave us,” he orders as soon as she has settled the tray of bright garments on the table.

Sehun musters the cacophony of maroon and gold threads adorning the tunic and trousers. “What is this?”

“This is for you,” Kai mutters nonchalantly. “Get dressed.”

Sehun blinks in confusion. “For _me_? But… why?”

Kai’s lips stretch into a regaled grin. “I think you often forget our roles here,” he closes the distance between them and cups Sehun’s jaw in a harsh grip. “I told you to fear me and yet, you are brasher than ever. It is refreshing, but beware. It might land you in unfavourable situations.”

Sehun shoves his hand off. “Quit your games with me. My determination shall not waver.”

Though Kai’s eyes narrow, his smile widens. “We shall see about that.” He slips his hand under Sehun’s shirt and Sehun sucks in a gasp when Kai hooks his cold fingers around the gold chain on his waist before yanking it hard enough that Sehun stumbles forward, almost colliding against Kai, but is stopped short when Kai wraps his hand around his neck. “I still own you. You are still my,” he presses his thumb to the scar on Sehun’s cheek, cupping the side of his face. “ugly, little bitch. So, you will do as I say with no questions asked, is that clear?” he releases Sehun and shoves him back. He grabs the tunic and hurls it in Sehun’s way. “Put it on, elsewise I will rip your clothes off and put it on you myself.”

Sehun gulps and continues to stare at Kai for a stretch before retreating to the room.

 

~*~

 

In the dark of the night, Sehun could hardly see the loam path of the forest they are trotting on, every step taken is a step further away from the abode of Iugis. He follows Kai, who is yet again unarmed and sneaking about. However, unlike last night when he sidled to the river, though not particularly to take a bath, he is dressed formally tonight, and has cleaned up neatly from head to toe in a ruby red and cerulean tunic fit for a king. Sehun could not help but wonder where Kai is planning to head to, dressed like he is about to attend a formal court dinner.

“Keep up,” Kai says when Sehun falls behind. They have been walking all evening, to god knows where, and the only answer Kai had given Iveus when they bumped into the Fae at the gates was, ‘out for some air’. Not even a fool would have believed the excuse, given their outfits, but Iveus was happy to let them pass. So long it gets Kai out of Iugis, Iveus must be glad.

Sehun opens his mouth to demand where they are heading, but decides to not make the effort since Kai would not bother to answer him, anyway.

Silently, he studies Kai’s profile while trying to avoid tripping over roots. It is so like Kai to wander away from being a royalty for just a moment to gather respite and do something that truly pleases him. Sehun remembers distinctly how often his brother used to flee the responsibilities of the court bestowed upon him by Sehun’s father, just for a short period of time, enough to pursue activities that made him content. Hunting, riding, or just simply attending the horses in the stables. Kai was a simple boy, whom Sehun had loved dearly. But now, he is an inexorable man, loved by none. Perhaps save one.

“Your Captain seems to worship you,” Sehun speaks his thought out loud, breaking the silence to make conversation.

Kai comes to a halt and turns his head halfway around to throw Sehun a blatant smile. “You noticed, have you?” he scoffs and proceeds in his path.

“It’s hard to not to notice when he is absolutely the only one who cares for you. I’m actually surprised someone like Felix could muster the respect for you.”

A laugh of ridicule escapes Kai’s lips, interrupting the quiet harmony of the forest. “You could thank our romantic past for that.”

Sehun has guessed as much, so the revelation of confirmation does not faze him. “It must be strange to be around each other, then.”

“Not quite. We were young. It has been ages since. We are no longer a couple of lads stumbling and staggering behind training arenas and in storage closets.”

Sehun finds it hard to swallow that information. “How… young?” he asks, but receives no reply from Kai. “Fine, don’t answer. Answer this, then. Did you also use him for your purpose and then discard him as you discard everyone?”

Kai lets out a roaring laughter. “Yes, actually. Impressive interpretation. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. We trained together since kids and had the same instructor. He was so much smaller when we were young. So pretty. Gentle blue eyes, thin pink lips. He was such a shy boy. And he was a mere guardsman’s son, I was the bastard Prince. Though, I was more of an outcast than he. He came as a comfort and a friend, but I didn’t need him or his friendship when I—”

“Became King,” Sehun finishes his sentence. “Because you could get a hundred partners worth more than a simple guardsman’s son.”

“Precisely,” Kai snorts. “But I’m not all ruthless, am I? I let him move on. I didn’t hold him back. If he is still wants to run around me like a lovesick pup, that is hardly my fault.”

“It _is_ your fault. Everything is your fault.” Sehun wraps his arms around himself to keep warm. He tries to recall Felix, but his memory fails him. Kai trained with many other boys, Sehun does not think Felix had stood out. But his heart reaches out to Felix. He never knew Kai had a lover back then. Of course, it is not something Kai would have liked to tell a child, but Sehun had thought he knew everything about Kai. “You are ruthless. He must have loved you and you appointed him as your Captain. He has to be by your side even if he doesn’t want to.”

“A debt paid back,” Kai says.

“Debt?”

“The sword I carry. It was given to me by him on my twenty-first birthday.” That explains why Felix had seemed so crossed when he found Sehun holding Kai’s sword. “And also, for all the times he let me fuck him,” Kai winks back at Sehun. “But you’re right. I do take pleasure in seeing him hurt and pining for me. However, it isn’t like I caused his defloration. He had wanted it. He is perfectly capable of making his own decisions.”

Sehun shakes his head, his heart aching for the brother he once thought was compassionate and humane. “Where are we going?” he spits at last, wanting to stay away from Kai at the moment.

“Patience. I’m keeping you entertained, aren’t I?”

“You are entertaining yourself by frustrating me.”

“True.” He comes to a halt and lifts a hand to stop Sehun as well. “Wait,” he says, tensing up all of a sudden.

Sehun could feel the string of thumps under his feet, steady beats like the hooves of a horse. Alarmed, he panics for an instant with no weapon to defend either of them, but then he notices how calm and composed Kai’s mien is.

When he espies the faint light of the torch, Sehun loses his nerve, moving closer to Kai. “Bow when I do,” Kai whispers, keeping his eyes on the approaching horsewomen.

Sehun tries not to stare at the women when they rein their horses to a stop before dismounting them. They are clad in simple riding raiment, with bear pelts hanging from their waists and charcoal markings all over the face. Kai bows before them and Sehun mimics him at once.

Straightening up, Kai utters something in a foreign language, which sounds strange to Sehun’s ears. The women smile at him, bowing their heads before one of them gives Kai a reply.

“What is happening?” Sehun asks in a low murmur when the two women bring forth a pair of black linen.

“They will blindfold us. Don’t do anything foolish. They won’t harm us,” Kai says, dipping his head to allow the woman to tie the blindfold around his head.

Sehun swallows, obediently doing the same. “Do they know who you are?” he asks in a whisper as a set of warm, calloused, but lean fingers curl around his hand to pull him forward to walk.

“They don’t know who I _really_ am,” Kai mutters. “Keep quiet.”

They don’t speak thereafter, mostly because Sehun pays all of his concentration on his footsteps, careful not to trip over as he is blindly guided through the forest.

A long moment later, as Sehun’s footsteps seem to get heavy with exhaustion, ferocious beats of hang drums and gongs fill his ears and spine with a vigorous exhilaration. He fights the urge to rip the blindfold off as the delicious music loudens with each step taken forward. The ground is no longer as soft as the loam. He walking on a hard platform, his senses sharper than ever.

A wave of heat runs down his body as a cacophony of giggles and chatters swirl in the air along with the seductive music of the sitar and a blend of flower and sandalwood fragrance, that suffocates him with the glamour of seduction. He could still feel the subtle night breeze on his face and smell the scent of the forest, so they haven’t left the woods.

When he is rendered to a halt and the blindfold comes off, Sehun blinks to clear his blurred vision, and is then startled by the abrupt invasion of brightness and colours that knock him for his six. The walls built around the roofless arena give the impression of a ruined fortress. Men are outnumbered by women, dressed in scanty, in tops hardly covering their chests, the midriffs bared and bottom attired in faille skirts with sashes, exorbitant chains adorning their waists. They are a complete contradiction to the women that have escorted him here.

He looks to Kai, who fixes him with a sly smirk. Sehun returns his gaze to the countless women, their bodies moving with heavenly grace, lips ripe and red. Their skins glimmer with a touch of gold and rose powder. And all of their sharp eyes are now on Kai.

“Dagný,” Kai says to the woman approaching him with a brilliant smile. Her forearms are covered in gold bangles, her eyes lined thick with kohl. Her flare red pants and blouse do little to hide the perfect planes of her abdomen, and god, she is a sight for sore eyes. Sehun finds himself staring at the dead stunning woman without holding back as she pulls Kai into a graceful embrace, placing a lustful kiss on each of his cheeks.

“I was pleased to receive your message,” the woman says in heavily thick accent. She must be way older than Kai, but aging must have done nothing but good to her. Her cheeks are pinked with seduction, lips full of passion. “It has been a while since you last came,” she says with a smile.

“I would have visited sooner if I could,” Kai replies. “I believe we have matters to discuss, Dagný.”

“We do,” she chimes and her eyes flit to Sehun. Her gaze alone renders Sehun tongue-tied and nervous. “I see that you’ve brought a friend.”

Kai says something in the other language, which Sehun fails to comprehend and the woman named Dagný lets out a soft chuckle before whispering something into Kai’s ears.

“He will be taken care of,” Dagný says, pining Sehun with another lustful gaze. “And for you,” she returns her eyes to Kai and continues in her native language.

As she starts to usher Kai to the rostrum in the middle of the arena, Kai turns to Sehun. “What is this place? What did she say?” Sehun inquires.

“The beauty of a woman is meant to be savoured,” Kai says with a lopsided grin and pats on Sehun’s shoulder. “Enjoy yourself.” With that, he proceeds to the rostrum and takes his seat on the chair beside Dagný. Sehun watches Kai press a wrap into Dagný’s hand, whispering into her ear. Dagný nods her head and turns to one of the women at her side.

Sehun jumps when an arm slides around his back. The woman smiles up at him, though her eyes seem a little agitated by the scars on Sehun’s face. Sehun then lets her guide him to the makeshift lounge in the corner, adorned with silk cushions. When he has taken his seat, the woman picks the decanter up and pours a garnet red liquid into the chalice. With a smile on her face and a subtle sway in her hips, she presses the chalice to Sehun’s lips. Sehun looks to Kai, who is still engaged in a conversation with Dagný.

The liquid is thick as it runs down his throat. It burns for a beat, but settles well on his tongue quickly. The beats of the drum amplify as his mouth begins to crave for the drink and the scent of the woman serving him. As the music rolls, stirring Sehun’s blood in his nether regions, three of the women take their positions on the rostrum, immediately catching Kai’s attention. With every wave of their waist, every move of their hips, the hunger in Kai’s gaze becomes clearer. He bites his lower lip, observing the women performing with a murderous grace and sensuosity for just him.

Dagný smiles at him with satisfaction when he rises to his feet and walks over to three dancing women. Sehun’s breath quickens when Kai splays his hand over one of the women’s midriff, dragging it all the way up to her chest, then her neck. His other hand finds the side of another woman’s waist while he latches his lips to the last of the three women’s collarbone. She slides her hand into Kai’s hair, wrapping a leg around his hip while the other two women continue to sway, dancing into his touch with fire and lust.

Sehun finds himself panting for air as he drains another cup of the drink. His body burns, blood swirling in the pit of his stomach. As Kai is escorted by the three women to one of the tents, Sehun is helped to his feet and is brought to a different tent.

He trips several times with his head spinning wild like a whirlpool. His body aches for contact and when he is shoved to the bed by the woman, he groans, wanting to rip out of all the clothes and his own skin. He is vaguely aware of the sweat seeping into his tunic and the hardness in his pants. It feels like he is thrown into a fire, a fire he doesn’t want to flee from. He wants the fire’s limbs to wrap around him, hold him until he comes undone.

He does not fight it when the woman pushes him to lie on his stomach and starts to bind his hands to the pole at the head of the bed. Then without a word, the woman exits the tent, leaving a lamp and a bowl of fragrant oil. Sehun buries his face into the pillow to muffle his moans as he unconsciously grinds his hips to the mattress. He tugs at the bind, wanting to touch himself, but every muscle in his body is exhausted and limp.

A sob rises in his throat, body drowning in the depths of fiery lust. After an insufferably long moment of torture and endless hunger, Sehun feels a pair of strong hands slide into his tunic, caressing the whip scars on his back. He lets out a moan and opens his eyes, raises his head to glance back at Kai kneeling behind him, staring at him with a predatory glare. Sehun drops his head back onto the pillow, but keeps his eyes on Kai, the laces of his tunic undone, exposing his sweat-sheening chest and abdominal muscles. Sehun whimpers, gritting his teeth when Kai grips his thighs and yanks them up, to have Sehun on his knees.

Shoving Sehun’s tunic up at the back, he presses his palms along the side of Sehun’s torso. His fist clenches Sehun’s hair and tugs it until Sehun’s neck arches back. “Look at you,” Kai says in a low growl, clutching Sehun’s hair with one hand, caressing the shape of Sehun’s waist with the other. His cock is lined perfectly along Sehun’s rear and for the first time in his life, Sehun wants to know what it would feel like without the barrier of their clothes.

Kai releases his hair and lets Sehun drop his face back onto the pillow as he grapples an arm under Sehun, holding up his waist while his other hand tugs at Sehun’s trousers, yanking them all the way down to his knees. Sehun groans, trying to find the strength to beg Kai to touch him where he really _needs_ to be touched.

He sucks in a shaky gasp when Kai drags a finger along the cleft of his arse. Pushing his face further into the pillow to thrust his rear against the touch. With a gentle stroke of Kai’s fingertip on the taut rim of muscles, Sehun breaks into desperate whimpers. He yanks his hands back, but fails to free them from the bind as Kai presses a kiss to his tailbone. His lips are hot enough to leave a mark.

Sehun watches with great intent, though his eyes are falling heavy, when Kai dips three of his fingers into the bowl, slicking them with the gentle-scented oil. “You want me to make you come?” Kai asks in a whisper, pressing his fingers between the cheeks of Sehun’s arse and brushes his opening with the oil. Sehun shivers, limp and weak, unable to lift a hand. He pushes back into Kai’s fingers. Kai straightens up and undoes the fly of his pants. Pulling his arching, hard member out, he slicks it with the oil and positions himself between Sehun’s legs to line his cock along the cleft of his arse.

Crying out a moan, Sehun clenches his eyes, grabbing onto the binds as Kai starts to rut against him, spreading Sehun’s arse apart to ride his cock up and down the cleft, slamming his hipbones against it. As Kai grinds his cock on his arse, Sehun breaks into feral moans, his own cock twitching with orgasm.

Gripping Sehun’s hips, Kai digs his nails into his skin before taking his cock into his hand to rub the tip on Sehun’s hole, smearing it with his come as he pumps his cock to climax. Sehun bursts into white ropes of come all over the sheets not far behind, letting out a muffled cry.

Spent and completely worn out, Sehun falls limp, but manages to let out a moan when Kai’s fingers rub his hole, spreading the come all over the puckered hole before he leans forward, yanking Sehun’s head up by a fist on Sehun’s hair. Without a warning, he slides his wet fingers past Sehun’s lips and whimpering breathlessly, Sehun swirls his tongue around the fingers, licking Kai’s come off his fingers. Kai pulls his hand back and grips Sehun’s hair, tugging it hard enough for Sehun to arch his neck all the way back.

Kai bows his head and smashes his lips against Sehun’s, kissing him upside down for a painfully brief moment. His hot tongue meets Sehun’s in a hasty, desperate lick. Sinking his teeth into Sehun’s bottom lip, he bites it until Sehun could taste blood, and then shoving Sehun’s head back to the pillow, Kai climbs off him and the bed before straightening his clothes. Without sparing Sehun another glance, he storms out of the tent, leaving Sehun to come down from his high on his own.


	17. Chapter Fifteen

When he manages to crack an eye open with an indescribable amount of effort, he finds Kai seated on a stack of cushions, eyes keenly watching Sehun lift his heavy head.

Clenching his eyes shut for a moment, Sehun tries to flee the brutal pounding in his head as his eyes burn behind his eyelids. “Where… are we?” he asks, his throat drier than sand, tongue like a strip of leather. Unable to hold his head up for long, he drops it back to the pillow. He gives the thrum in his head to settle before fluttering his eyes open again to consider where he is and what he is lying on.

They are in a tent and he is stretched out on a narrow bed, adorned with orange silks. His head spins relentlessly, without giving him a moment of respite, and his body feels sore from exhaustion, as though he has been bashed to the ground by a mammoth.

“Where am I?” he tries again in a painfully hoarse voice, but Kai dismisses his question with an impatient sigh. Fragments of memories of last night flash before Sehun’s eyes in a dull frame. He had followed Kai through the forest around Iugis and found himself amidst colourful women. He recalls nothing else.

“I hope you’ve slept well,” Kai sighs and rises to his full height, straightening his tunic. “We ought to return to Iugis before sunrise.”

Sehun forces himself upright and rubs his temples, drawing a string of laboured breaths. “What happened last night?”

“You got pissed and passed out,” Kai says, adjusting the hems of his sleeves.

“What?” Sehun lets out and scrubs his face with his hands. “I got drunk?”

“Like slobbering puss,” Kai smirks.

“And you let me?”

“Of course. You are my dog. I ought to give you treats from time to time.”

It takes up almost all of his energy to stand straight. His tunic is wrinkled, his pants have come loose and there are thick stripes of red around his wrists. “Why did we come here?”

“I had business with the Mistress.”

Sehun remembers her immediately, though he isn’t sure he could trust his mind at the moment. “Dagný.”

Kai arches an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you remember her. But then again, she’s one to be forgotten, is she?” With another smug grin, he slips out of the tent.

Though the music has died, the women haven’t stopped entertaining themselves or the men that are showering them with gold coins. The memory of the women is suddenly vivid in his mind as he courses past them. Kai receives a kiss on his cheek from Dagný when he walks over to her to say goodbye before proceeding out of the arena. Sehun bows his heavy head to the Mistress. Wondering if she would understand him, he asks, “I hope you won’t mind me asking, but is this a brothel? The temples of Iugis are not far from here, that is why I’m a little perplexed.”

Dagný smiles, raising her hand to Sehun’s face to stroke his scars. “Those religious men and women live in fear. We do not. This isn’t a brothel, dear one. Just a place called Andralar, for a lull.”

“Which he visits often?”

“Since he was very young, I believe,” the Mistress says and Sehun’s eyebrows furrow into a frown.

“Young? How young?”

“I’ve known him since he was just a boy, though then, he never took a woman. He always preferred the performance and dance. Nothing more.”

Sehun’s throat tightens. Perhaps he has been wrong about his brother all along. Perhaps Kai has always been this corrupted with so many secrets. Maybe Sehun just didn’t choose to see them. Or maybe he was just too young, too innocent to see his brother as anything other than perfect and a hero.

After bowing to Dagný again, Sehun hurries after Kai. He trudges over the damp loam, glancing up to the sky. The sun should be up in a while and Sehun could hardly keep up with Kai’s fast strides with his head pounding murderously.

“What did you do there last night?” Sehun asks.

“Oh, had three stunning women ride me like a stallion,” Kai scoffs, hitting a branch overhead.

Sehun scowls. “I mean, what business did you have with the Mistress.”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out, sweetheart.”

Sehun comes to a stop and leans against a tree, bending to hold onto his knees.

“What are you doing?” Kai asks, stopping to look back at him.

“My head hurts. I’m not quite sober yet, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Well, you’re a lousy drunk,” he sighs and leans back on a tree before Sehun, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I suppose you’re some expert.”

“What am I not an expert in?” he smirks, cocking a brow.

“Humanity, mercifulness, generosity, I can think of a list.”

Kai smiles, nevertheless. “Is there anything positive about me according to you?”

“You’re a great warrior,” Sehun sighs. “You don’t have a weakness.”

Kai nods his head, biting his lip. “In some sense, that could also be a negative.”

“Not really. You can never lose. Sometimes, it’s a good thing to have no heart.”

“You sound like you’ve gotten yours broken.”

Sehun lifts his gaze and finds Kai staring at him expressionlessly. “Every single day,” he mutters with his heart skipping a beat.

“Ah, right. Because I’m still alive. Will that heart be fixed when you kill me at last?” he pulls away from the tree and slowly crosses the distance between them. “Tell me at least now. Who sent you? Why is it that you want me dead so bad? I would understand if Havegnia did not thrive under my reign, but it does. The people are happy. So, if you want me dead, it must be for a personal reason.” He stops an inch before Sehun and lifts a hand to the tree at a side of Sehun’s head. Leaning forward, he whispers, “What is it?” he purrs like a lover, raising his other hand to cup Sehun’s cheek.

Along with his spinning head, his stomach twists and his breathing quickens. He wants to shove Kai away, he wants to gut him alive, but at the same time, he wants Kai to come closer and ruffle his head, to kiss his wounds away, to fix his broken heart. He brings his hand to Kai’s chest and as he starts to push him away, but he freezes when Kai clasps his hand over Sehun’s to hold it against his chest.

“What is your name?” Kai asks, his eyes piercing into Sehun’s. When Sehun does not give him an answer, Kai tilts his head and presses his warm lips to the scar on Sehun’s cheeks, dragging them all the way down to the corner of Sehun’s lips. Sehun screws his eyes tight, parting his lips to pant for air as Kai moves his lips to the other cheek, kissing along the scar there. Then he brushes his lips along the scar from Sehun’s temple down to the side of his jaw. “Tell me your name, at least,” he breathes against the skin below Sehun’s lower lip.

“Get away from me,” Sehun spits and shoves Kai back.

Just for a brief heartbeat, there is hurt in Kai’s expression before his lips quirk into his usual smirk. “I like how tough you want to be. But you’re not. Slayer you may be, but your sense of compassion and the humanity you spoke of will always be a fault. You find me repulsive and yet, I am the only one who finds all of your horrors worthy of admiration. I admire you for the monster you are, the monster you want everyone to fear. In a way, you and I are alike.”

“I am nothing like you,” Sehun snaps. “You are incapable of love and compassion.”

“Oh, but you’re not?”

“I hate just _you_. I want to see only _you_ dead. I hold contempt for only _you_. You are the monster. Not me. I would have killed you with a single strike, that it would have been merciful. But _you_ flogged my back, you torment me almost every day, you humiliate me. This is your standard. You’re an arsehole. There’s nothing great about you. You’re just a bastard arsehole.”

 Kai smiles. “Makes it easy to be happy,” he shrugs. “Like you said, I can never lose. I will always win. Now that you’ve got that off your chest, I hope your head is lighter, so we should head back.”

 

~*~

 

“This surpasses my expectation,” Kai lets out in awe as he inspects the ebony sword, the engravings on its spine beaming bright red. “My thanks.”

“Use the blade for good purposes.” the High Priestess says.

Iveus pins Kai with another scowl, his fellow friend, the bowman nowhere to be seen today. “If your business here is complete, you should leave,” Iveus says, his hand lingering on the hilt of his sword.

Kai nods, smiling faintly as he sheathes his black sword. It is a complete contradiction to his silver sword, which he holds out to Sehun.

Sehun gawks at the sword and then to Kai.

“Well, you’re going to need a weapon to kill me when the time comes, won’t you?” he says in a low voice and Sehun slowly accepts the sword. “And you said I lack generosity,” he scoffs.

In disbelief, Sehun’s first instinct is to search for Felix’s reaction among the men. The disappointment is crystal clear in the Captain’s face before he turns around sharply to mount his steed.

Gulping, Sehun belts the sword and mounts Aristo. Kai bows to the High Priestess before climbing onto his horse. “May Avora be with you,” the High Priestess says. “And Her teachings.”

Kai nods his head and without further delay, he rides ahead, alongside his frowning Captain. “Where to next, My Lord?” Felix inquires in a sombre tone.

“Aatwana,” Kai mutters monosyllabically.

Felix, as always, does not question his King any further. “The land of the Nymphs.”

 

~*~

 

When they stop to rest by the River of Portania, the only river of ancient Servanya that still flows to this day, Sehun attends to Aristo’s needs before he decides to take a dip in the river. He waits for the sun to go down and all the men to have done using the river to their purposes before he heads over to the river.

But much to his dismay, he finds Felix sitting by the shore, tossing pebbles into the flowing water with his shirt unlaced and hair still wet. Sehun returns to his horse and finds the sword Kai had so generously offered for his own demise.

“Hey,” Sehun says and Felix looks up at him with a dejected scowl. “Here,” he hands the sword to Felix.

The Captain arches an eyebrow. “What are you giving me this for?”

“It should be with you.”

“The King gifted it to you.”

Sehun takes his seat beside the Captain and settles the sword between them. “But you gifted it to him.”

Felix stares at him with a lour in his sharp gaze. “He… told you?”

“You’re surprised?”

“I’ve never understood him,” he snorts. “You came to assassinate him and he lets you sleep in his quarters, by his side. And now, he gave you a sword.”

“Maybe you should stop trying so hard to understand people like him. He’s a story’s villain. He’s evil. There’s nothing grand about that. It’s a fact.”

“No one is born evil,” Felix lets out. “Do you believe that?”

“Everyone is born with the ability of contrition and remorse,” Sehun spits. “Yet he has none.”

“He used to have them,” Felix says, smiling to himself and Sehun sighs.

“I know,” he pulls his knees to his chest.

“You do?”

Swallowing, Sehun lowers his head. “You may not understand him. But I don’t understand you. How could you still be by his side? How could you… love him? How could you serve someone with zero morality?”

“Because I made him a promise. I live by my words, even though I no longer have a reason to. I made him a promise to be by his side even when his own mother wasn’t.”

Sehun grips his jaw. What sort of lie has Kai told this man? “His mother loved him. She loved all her sons the same.”

Felix scoffs. “How would you know? You’re not from the castle. I am.”

“Yeah. He said you trained together.”

“I still remember those days,” he grins as if at a fond memory. “We only had a low-level guard to train us. So, it wasn’t anything special. But we both had secret handshakes, wooden swords. And when we were older, we had… many other secrets.” Sehun wants to reach out for Felix’s hand and tell him to give up on his love. He must have fallen for the innocent façade Kai used to put on. In a way, they are both victims.

“The Queen still loved him.”

“She may have loved her other perfect sons. But not him. No one ever loved the cursed bastard.”

“She loved him. He betrayed her. He betrayed everyone. He killed them all in cold blood.”

Felix suddenly looks at him like he has seen a ghost. “How do you know that?”

Sehun freezes, returning his attention back to what Felix had said. “Wait. Other… _sons_?”

Felix shoots up to his feet, but Sehun grabs the sword faster. With their swords drawn, they pant, staring at one another with pure horror of what they had each slipped out in a moment of emotional weakness.

“Who the hell are you?” Felix demands through his teeth, brandishing his sword.

“Kai didn’t train with a low-level guard. He trained with Master Ragnare, the head Master of Havegnia at the time,” Sehun spits.

“And how do you know that?!”

Sehun grips his sword tight for a moment before realizing this man isn’t his enemy. If anything, Felix has the potential to become an ally. Sehun lowers his sword. “Listen. I know you’ve been loyal to him all this while. But you needn’t be anymore.”

“I asked you a question!”

“You already know, don’t you?” Sehun sighs.

Felix grits his teeth, still flourishing his sword. “No…” he lets out. “You can’t be.”

“Felix, I don’t want to fight you. But if I did, I will win. So, why not we put away our swords and talk?”

After a moment of hesitation, Felix lowers his sword, his eyes reddening by the beat. “It is you… Does anyone else know?”

“Tia does,” Sehun says. “You cannot tell Kai. I… I don’t care if you do, actually. It changes nothing. But the moment you do, you also become my enemy.”

“You’ve come to kill him.”

“I should have succeeded many nights ago,” he sheaths his sword and waits for Felix to mimic his action. “But I didn’t. Now, he’s waiting for me to try to kill him again, so that he can punish me and have fun while doing it. This time, I’m not going to give him the pleasure. At the end of this journey, he promised me a duel. Look, Felix. I understand that you still garner some feelings for him, but think of all the brutal things that he has done. He killed my father, my mother and almost killed me, too! His family!”

“You are not his family,” Felix says in a low voice. “And… he hasn’t killed your mother.”

That instant, there is nothing that Sehun could have done to hide his shock. The following moment is filled with a cruel silence as Sehun drops to his knees, unable to catch his breaths. “Wh-what?”

“Your… mother is alive. He wasn’t going to kill any of you,” he whispers, lowering to his knees before Sehun. “She lives. So does… your brother.”

Sehun looks up. This time, his eyes filled with more confusion than surprise. “What brother?”

Felix licks his lips, dropping his gaze. “You can still save them…”

Sehun’s hands fly up to clutch Felix’s shirt. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“His… twin brother,” Felix says, swallowing hard. “Your brother. Kai. The Kai he is pretending to be now.”

Sehun drops his hands from Felix’s shirt along with his head. He stares at the pebbles with tears threatening his eyes. “What?” his voice comes out as a mere whisper. He clenches his eyes shut, balling his hands into fists.

“He—” he stops short, letting out a gagging noise and Sehun looks up to see the tip of a black sword brushing his own chest, the ebony blade driven through Felix’s chest. Without a single drop of air in his lungs, Sehun raises his head to see Kai standing behind Felix with a glorious smile on his face.

He clicks his tongue and yanks his sword out of Felix’s back. Sehun gasps, jolting up to his feet and staggers back. “This is unfortunate,” Kai chimes, lowering to one knee and fists a handful of Felix’s hair at the back of his head to yank it back. “I thought I’d get to keep you around for a little longer,” he whispers into Felix’s ear, his lips brushing seductively against Felix’s earlobe. He rises back to his feet and swings his glowing red-black sword at Felix’s neck level.

“No!” Sehun cries and lunges forward, unsheathing his sword, but before he could counter Kai’s blow, his sword strikes across Felix’s neck, decapitating the man. “No!”

Kai cocks his head to the side, watching Felix’s head drop to the ground with a thud. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a pity,” he sighs heavily and looks up to Sehun. “Now, how much did he tell you?”

Sehun takes a wobbly step back, his grip shaking around his sword.

“Oh, don’t look so sad,” Kai says. “I could tell you whatever that you wanted to hear from him. What do you want to know, sweetheart?” he crosses over Felix’s dead body, advancing closer to Sehun. “Tell me,” he spits, his expression suddenly turning grave. “Sehun.”


	18. Chapter Sixteen

Sehun takes a breath as his body prepares for either fight or flight. Sweat beads collect on his forehead while his brain desperately searches for a solution. His sight is blurred by tears of terror and his hand trembles around the grip of his sword as he stares at Kai’s unwavering clutch on his black sword, the inscriptions on the blade glowing red like the wrath of the god of death and war. The sickening smile on Kai’s face shoves whatever remaining hardihood there is in Sehun’s heart into the depth of fear. There is a hunger for death in Kai’s maniacal gaze, like an unhinged murder-hungry beast.

He can’t flee. He can’t fight. Right now, he needs to survive.

“I don’t like seeing your frown,” Kai says, taking a step closer. “Tsk. I wanted to have fun with you a little longer. Now, there is no point in keeping your around, is there?”

Sehun drops his sword and Kai halts in his tracks at once, blinking confusedly at the sword Sehun has discarded on the ground. Arching an eyebrow, Kai lifts his head to pin Sehun with a surprised look. “Who are you?” Sehun asks when he manages to find his voice.

“Does it matter?”

Sehun swallows. “You would have killed me already if that is your intention. What sort of a sick game are you playing?”

Kai scoffs, shaking his head. His smile dies at once when his sword flings up and the tip of it brushes Sehun’s throat. “The fool told you too much, didn’t he? But you’re a bigger fool than him if you believed him. Do you seriously think I will leave the one man that can ruin everything for me alive?”

Sehun’s heart thunders in his chest. “You… killed him?”

“Well, if it is any comfort to you, I did it with mercy. It was quick and almost… painless,” he smirks and lowers his sword to Sehun’s chest. “Right through his heart… After all, I did share a womb with him,” he pauses for a beat. “Who am I, you asked?” his eyes bore into Sehun’s as he drags the blade to Sehun’s abdomen and with a single strike, he rips Sehun’s shirt apart. He then brutally thrusts his blade into the ground and struts over to Felix’s decapitated body. Sehun stares at the ebony sword standing erect from the ground and considers grabbing it. But before he could move even an inch, Kai returns with Felix’s head in his hand, clutching the hair. Sehun almost kecks as his throat burns with fire. “I am,” Kai grunts as he plants the head onto the hilt of the sword. He watches the blood from Felix’s neck flow dribbles down the blade in thin streams with gratified intent. It looks as though he is bathing his black, death sword with the blood of his dead Captain. “cursed,” he says, shifting his attention back to Sehun. “That’s what your—oh, sorry, _our_ mother believed.”

Sehun silently withdraws a step when Kai advances forward and picks him Sehun’s sword from the ground. “Is she… is she alive?”

Kai scoffs as he rolls his shirt’s sleeve up. “Oh, she is. Paying for being a filthy bitch.”

Hope sparks in Sehun’s chest.

Kai lets out a spine-chilling chuckle. “Look at your face. You look like you might just smile. Trust me,” he presses the silver blade to his forearm. “You don’t want to find her. Let’s just say… she is _not_ in a good shape.”

Sehun’s heart leaps to his neck when Kai drags the blade along the inside of his forearm, cutting a deep wound into the flesh. Sehun gawks at Kai’s bleeding arm and then at Kai’s unflinching composure.

“I did not become a King by being a fool, Sehun,” he says and Sehun’s name almost sounds like poison on his lips. “Sure, I might have gone a little soft over the years, but now you know what I’m capable of,” he points the sword to Felix’s dead body.

“You… didn’t have to kill him,” Sehun says through the tears that attack his eyes. “He was serving you knowing everything about you.”

“Not everything,” he exhales and licks a drop of blood to drips of his arm. He drags his tongue along the bleeding slit. When he raises his head again, his mouth and jaw are covered in his own blood. Sehun’s horrified gaze follows the rivulets of blood trickling down Kai’s neck, which then seep through his shirt.

Sehun chokes on a sob and without thinking twice, he bolts for the trees. He sprints as fast as his feet could carry him, but before he could even disappear into the darkness of the woods, he is yanked by the hair at the back of his head. All wind is knocked out of his lungs when Kai slams him against a tree with a hand ruthlessly clenching Sehun’s neck. He cuts off the supply of air and rams Sehun’s head back against the tree.

The pain isn’t anything new to Sehun, but the fear is. He hasn’t felt a fear like this since the night he had seen his father dead and drowning in his own blood. He doesn’t fight. Running away was a mistake itself. Kai is expecting him to do make one stupid move.

He struggles for some air, clawing at Kai’s hand, and he almost knees Kai in the guts, but he is forced to a freeze when Kai’s smashes their mouths together. Sehun’s tongue immediately tastes the blood soaking Kai’s lips. Without allowing Sehun a single drop of air, Kai kisses him, all tongue and teeth, smearing his blood all over Sehun’s mouth while his hand grips Sehun’s neck harder.

His senses are clogged with the metallic scent and taste of Kai’s blood as Kai kisses him with an open mouth, his tongue delving deep into Sehun’s mouth, ferociously licking at every spot it could reach. Sehun’s fist flies up to the side of Kai’s head, but Kai catches his wrist as if he had seen it coming. With one hand clutching Sehun’s neck and the other clutching his wrist, Kai forces his mouth harder against Sehun’s, licking his blood of Sehun’s lips now.

Sehun’s free hand grabs onto Kai’s shirt before he drives his knee into Kai’s stomach. Released from Kai’s grip, he boots the man on his chest and sends him staggering a couple of steps back. Sehun pants for air with tears rolling down his cheeks and Kai’s blood all over his face.

He lurches forward, throwing a fist aiming for Kai’s face, which Kai effortlessly dodges. He seizes Sehun’s arm and fists a handful of Sehun’s hair before slamming Sehun’s face onto a tree. His head spins upon impact and he feels a hot drop of blood trickle down his temple.

“You shouldn’t have returned, Sehun,” Kai snarls, yanking Sehun back to lean against his chest without releasing Sehun’s hair. Sehun gasps, resting his back on Kai’s front as Kai snakes a bloody hand over his waist.

“I surrender,” Sehun rasps when Kai drags his hand up Sehun’s bare stomach and chest.

“What?” there is a hint of disbelief and surprise in Kai’s voice. His grip loosens around Sehun’s hair.

“I yield!” he cries. “You still own me according to our deal,” he says through the terror blocking his throat. “I am determined to hold up my end of the bargain.”

When Kai releases his hair, Sehun involuntarily drops to his knees. His head throbs with agony. “Do you take me for an idiot?” Kai spits.

Sehun turns his head halfway around to look at Kai. “This changes nothing,” he mutters breathlessly. “I still want a fair fight with you. _You_ killed my father. _You_ … killed my brother. You destroyed everything. I will end _you_. But if you are too much of a coward to let me live on for the time being, then go ahead and kill me.”

Kai crouches to the ground beside Sehun with a smirk playing on his blood streaked lips. “Coward? _Me_?” he exhales a breathy laughter. Then patting playfully on Sehun’s cheek, he rises to his feet and marches away. Sehun collapses on the ground and breaks into a sob, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth to muffle the noise.

 

* * *

 

He glances down at his palms that are caked with dirt and blisters. The loam under his nails are thick with blood. Sehun clenches his eyes to draw in a few breaths before he opens them to greet the orange sky of dawn. He lowers to one of his knees and tosses another handful of mud onto the ground he had buried Felix and his sword in.

He washes the blood of himself in the river before grabbing the silver sword and returning to the camp. Guards are up and about, some of them searching for their Captain, awaiting his orders. A few of them notice Sehun’s torn shirt and blood stains, but do not bother themselves with inquisitions.

When he bursts into Kai’s tent, he finds Kai arched over the table, clad in new, unstained clothes with his black sword hanging at his hip. Sehun hurls the silver blade to the ground at Kai’s feet. Kai brings his head up and fixes Sehun with a curious expression.

“You are a living Damned walking the earth,” Sehun spits and that makes Kai grin.

Kai clears his throat and runs a hand through his clean, dry hair. “You sound just like Mother,” he snorts and returns his attention to the map.

“Were you telling the truth?” Sehun asks through his grit teeth. “Is Kai… really… dead?”

Kai sighs. “Dead as doornail,” he mutters nonchalantly, keeping his eyes on the map spread across the table. “I can tell you where I buried him if you want to dig up his bones. In my chamber back at the castle. Buried in the ground right under my bed. Dig him up. I won’t mind. I got a little bored keeping him around for so long. You can have him back.”

“You killed them all. All the heirs. Why leave me alive if you’ve known who I am all the while?”

Kai looks up at him with a smirk. “Well, aren’t you my lost little prince? I am the King now. You are hardly a threat. I like you. You’re abhorrent. Just like me. Except that you’re ugly on the outside,” he shrugs and rolls up the map. He picks up the silver sword and flips it to grab onto its blade, holding out the grip to Sehun. “You’re going to need this.”

“You won’t find the Spirabiliz,” Sehun spits without accepting the sword.

Kai smiles wider. “I knew you figured that out. Did Tia tell you? God, she is becoming less and less useful to me.”

Sehun’s hands fly up to grab Kai’s shirt collar. “If you hurt her,” he hisses through his teeth.

“You can’t even protect yourself, sweetheart,” Kai purrs and inches closer to Sehun’s lips. Sehun releases his shirt and retreats.

“Your cursed soul will be dragged down to the dooms of the underworld, you damned bastard,” he lets out. “And I will make sure of it.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Kai says and presses the grip of the sword to Sehun’s chest. Sehun catches the sword when Kai releases it.


	19. Chapter Seventeen

When they finally stop for good after over a week of riding, Kai does not look convinced. He scrutinizes the stars in the sky and the map in his hands repeatedly without seeming satisfied. The troop is exhausted, worn to a frazzle. Kai has been merciless, not allowing himself or his troop to rest, sun up and down. Sehun, however, does not have much to complain about it. The more Kai wears himself out, the better.

Sehun reins Aristo to a stop and pats on the horse’s neck, studying the chagrin in Kai’s expression. He glances back at the rest of the men, all running on empty. None of them could question their King, especially now that their Captain has been “relieved of duty”, as Kai had simply said when one of the guards inquired him of their Captain’s whereabouts.

Kai’s eyes might have burned the map if he stared at it any longer. He hands the torch back to the guard and grabs the reins of his black horse. “We camp here tonight!” he orders, though there is a hint of dismay in his voice.

The relief in the guards’ sigh rips through the silence as they dismount their horses and pitch the tents. Sehun hauls Aristo to tie him to a tree and feeds him a couple of soft carrots before sitting him down. He frowns at Aristo’s tangled mane and mutters a sorry for not grooming him in a while. A nudge and a wet breath on his arm drag his attention to the tawny horse behind him. Sehun withdraws from Aristo to feed the horse, whose rider is nowhere to be seen.

“Oi,” a guard hollers as he walks toward Sehun with his horse at his side. “Here,” he forces the horse’s reins into Sehun’s hand before walking away, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sighing, Sehun strokes the horse’s nose and ties him to the tree beside Aristo. He spends a few more moments with the horses, ensuring they are fed well before taking his seat on the ground among them. Aristo whinnies and nudges his nose into Sehun’s shoulder blade when Sehun leans back against him. Patting Aristo’s head, Sehun takes a bite of the wilted carrot. It leaves a rotten taste on his tongue, but he can’t whine about it. They are running low on food stock and whatever they have is already half rotten or on its way to be.

He could also use a bath, but he doubts there is a river anywhere nearby. The night might get colder, he thinks, as he glances up at the sky. The moon and its litter of stars are remarkably bright tonight. Sehun takes a breath and slumps back against Aristo, grabbing the waterskin. He had refilled it the last time they crossed a river, which was at least two days ago. He drains the last drops of water and looks to the fire built by the guards. Most of them have zonked out. Those who are still awake are already asleep on their feet and are ready to collapse into oblivion.

He stares at Kai’s tent, his fingers idle on the hilt of his sword. He supposes he no longer has a place to sleep in that tent, at Kai’s side, even as his dog. The light doesn’t go out in the tent. Kai’s silhouette moves from corner to corner, as though he is restlessly pacing the tent. Even when everyone stopped to catch a wink once every three days, Kai didn’t sleep. He kept studying the map and the stars. It almost surprises Sehun that Kai could go on for so long without sleep or proper rest.

They should have reached Aatwana by now. But they haven’t. Kai is either going in the wrong way or the land of the Nymphs simply does not exist.

Sehun’s eyes remain on the tent as they fall heavy, slowly drifting off to sleep. Before he could let slumber claim him completely, he twitches awake to the ruffling noise of the footsteps shifting on the crisp grass. His hand grips the sword and he starts to rise to his feet, but freezes to hide further into the dark when he finds Kai walking out of his tent with the map rolled up in one hand. The red spine of his black blade glows in the dark as he hurries into the trees. Where the hell is he going?

Sehun waits for a beat before treading on Kai’s heels, maintaining a safe distance between them. Kai’s pace is steady at first, but as he ventures further into the woods and away from the camp, he strides faster. Sehun struggles to keep up without making too much noise.

When Kai comes to a halt, Sehun hurriedly falls out of his sight behind a tree. He keeps a hand ready on the grip of his sword.

“You cannot be a lousier Slayer,” he hears Kai spit. Sehun clenches his jaw and sucks in a troubled breath before stepping away from the tree. Kai stares at him expressionlessly and looks almost bored.

“Where is my mother?” Sehun blurts out. He isn’t sure why he said it because he knows Kai would die before he answers that question. But he waits, nevertheless, to see if he would get an answer.

A corner of Kai’s lips quirk up into a smirk. He turns around and walks away.

“Fine. Answer this, then. My brother… was never in line for the throne. You killed him. But now that you know I’m alive, why haven’t you killed me, yet? Especially now that I know who you are.”

“I enjoy entertainment,” is all that Kai says.

Sehun draws his sword and lunges at Kai’s back. He knows he won’t get a strike, but it is worth a shot. Kai draws before Sehun could even blink and spins around, blocking Sehun’s sword almost effortlessly. “Where is my mother?” Sehun spits, yanking his sword back to retaliate.

Kai lets out a mocking chuckle, blocking Sehun’s attempt again. He staggers Sehun and shoves him back. “Locked away in Fort Radworth,” Kai says and Sehun halts in his tracks, gawking at Kai for a moment. “Oh, I think you might find some of her limbs there.”

A fire settles in Sehun’s stomach as he bolts forward, swinging his sword, aiming for Kai’s neck. Kai grabs Sehun’s wrist with the blade grazing his skin on the side of his neck and raises his sword, but instead of utilizing that, he elbows Sehun’s in the face. Sehun stumbles back with a rivulet of hot, thick blood trickling down his lips. He wipes it with the back of his hand and advances again, over and over, striking Kai’s blade each time, failing each time. He isn’t sure if it is sweat or tear that rolls down his cheeks as he lurches forward relentlessly, wearing himself out.

Kai retreats a step when Sehun does not stop advancing. He looks a little surprised when Sehun picks himself up and brandishes his sword for the seventh time.

Sleepless and worn with fatigue, Sehun holds his sword out, gasping for air. “I won’t stop,” he exhales breathlessly. “I never will stop. I will fight you until I die.”

Kai glares at him. “You may. But I have better things to do,” he rolls his eyes and turns on his heel. Sehun forces his feet to move and reels to the front. He doesn’t even manage to lift his sword when Kai’s blade slams his own sword, the sheer force causing Sehun to lose his grip on it. Kai catches the silver sword when it flips in the air and crosses both blades at Sehun’s neck.

Sehun swallows, a drop of sweat rolling down his throat, which is glancing at the crossed blades, ready to chop his head off.

“I can do this all night, sweetheart,” Kai snarls. “But just not tonight.” He plants Sehun’s sword into the ground and stomps away, unrolling the map in his hand.

It baffles Sehun. Why is Kai so keen on keeping him alive? Does he really think Sehun isn’t a threat, but just a mere entertainment for him? There is nothing that Sehun could trust about Kai. For all the he cares, he could be lying about everything from the beginning. For now, he wants to rip Kai’s heart out. That is all that matters. And if Kai seems so nonchalant about it, he must truly believe that Sehun could not harm him. And perhaps Sehun _can’t_. Not for the want of trying, though.

He rips the sword from the ground and bolts towards Kai. There was reluctance previously when he thought this was the brother he once cherished and loved so much. But now that that isn’t the case, he could kill Kai without feeling any remorse or guilt. Of course, assuming that what Kai and Felix said was true.

Kai obstructs Sehun’s strike with his sword and this time when he seizes Sehun’s wrist, he twists it until he has dropped the sword. Without hesitating even for a heartbeat, Kai swings his sword and gashes Sehun’s cheek with the tip. Sehun lets out a hiss and palms the bleeding cut across his cheek. Kai cocks his head to the side and inspects the cut with amusement. He smiles faintly and licks his lips. “Now, that’s a nice look on you.”

Sehun ignores the stinging pain and the sword on the ground as he pounces on Kai, his fist contacting the side of Kai’s head immediately. Though Kai flinches, he barely moves a step and returns the blow by slamming the hilt of his sword into Sehun’s temple. Sent to the ground, Sehun hastily reaches out a hand and grabs the sword before springing back up.

When he vaults onto Kai, his entire weight thrusts Kai back and he groans when Kai’s arm swirls around him, dragging him with him. Their swords clash and so do their fists. Sehun loses his footing again and trips over a root at the edge of a downslope. His hand flies up to grab Kai’s shirt collar, yanking Kai down with him.

They grunt and groan, hands and swords clawing at their bodies, as they roll down the slope. Sehun takes a couple of blows to the face despite tumbling along the hill and returns the jabs with every ounce of energy that he harbours. By the time they reach the bottom, they drop onto a soft ground. At first, Sehun thinks it’s a patch of mud, but when Kai falls right through the ground, as though he has slipped through quicksand, his heart leaps to his throat. Kai’s grip on his shirt yanks him through the ground along with Kai. A scream escapes his mouth when he falls into the abyss of darkness.

His head spins. He just fell through the ground. How is that even possible?! That is the least of his problems at the moment. He is falling.

His body prepares for the fall. The darkness begins to ebb slowly. His eyes widen at the twinkling blue fires he is about to fall into. Stars. Are they stars? No, they can’t be. He can’t be falling into the night sky!

He hears a splash and then a thud echo around him. He braces himself for the impact and dives right into a depth of shallow pitch black water, right atop Kai.

He swallows a few drops of the water in an attempt to sob for some air as he pushes himself up to the surface, completely bathed in the water. Coughing and blinking the water out of his eyes, he tries to look around. The ‘stars’ surrounding him take his breath away once more. They aren’t stars. Glowing rocks. Scintillating blue rocks adorning the inside of a cavern.

Grabbing onto a mound of rock, Sehun pulls himself to a higher ground, though it is covered in water, too. The cavern’s floor is flooded with water, which glimmers with reflections of the glowing rocks. Only after securing a few breaths does he pay heed to Kai who is desperately searching for something in the water. He pulls out the now wet map and his sword. He lets out a monstrous groan and pushes his damp hair out of his forehead, folding the map cautiously.

“What the hell… is this place?” Sehun asks, panting for air while coughing the water out.

Kai looks up at him with a gaze of wonderment. He then glances around him before poking one of the glimmering rocks. “I can’t believe this,” he lets out in a ragged breath. Sehun pushes himself up to his feet and bows his head when it brushes the stalactite of the cave. The water is stagnant, but there is an entryway with the rocks lining the walls of the way.

“Is… is this Aatwana?” Sehun asks before realizing he has lost his sword.

Kai starts towards the mouth of the cavern, which leads to what seems like an endless pathway in the cave. “No,” he breathes out. “Are you coming?”

The water is shallow enough to walk through it. Sehun wipes the stinging cut on his cheek with a sleeve and hurries after Kai. “Did we just fall into the ground?” he rasps.

“Yes.”

“How?” he wishes he could stop gaping, but apparently Kai is as surprised as he is.

“The land of the Nymphs can’t be on the land of men. Of course. Why didn’t I think of this before?”

“Huh?”

“These Nymphs were spirits of nature before the Death Ages. Following that, they were sent underground, branded as dark creatures of seduction. They dragged their entire land down with them. I never thought it could be real.”

“That’s a grandfather story.”

Kai does not reply as he drags his legs through the water. He pulls out the map again and carefully unfolds it. “This is the path,” he points at the smudged ink which resembles a stream of river. “It’s not a river. It’s this pathway.”

Sehun blinks confusedly. “How did we find it?”

“We didn’t,” Kai treads on and Sehun clenches his fists at his sides. Attacking Kai in here would not help his case. And he has lost his sword.

“How do we go back?”

“This is the only way out of here, I presume.”

Sehun looks around him. He wonders if these rocks are valuable. Kai seems to take little interest in them as he hurriedly walks on. Sehun is still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had sieved through the ground and landed in a cave.

They come to a jerky stop when the cavern’s floor rumbles beneath their feet underwater. Multiple ripples form on the surface of the water at once. Sehun intently studies the water which slowly rises to his knees. “K—” he stops himself, realizing he is about to say Kai’s name.

Kai turns around, eyes surveying the water level that is rapidly rising.

“What is… happening?” Sehun mutters and his voice echoes quieter than it did earlier.

Without uttering a word, Kai bolts. Sehun blinks at him in confusion and slowly looks back. The water turns violent as the ground quakes ferociously. Sehun loses his balance and drops into the water. When he has pushed himself back up, his heart sinks at the sight of the water flooding towards him, filling the cavern up to its ceiling.

He spins around at once and races after Kai. The cavern grumbles around him like the stomach of a hungry monster. His trips over several times with the water level rising higher and higher by the moment. When he glances back, dread spreads across his chest. He isn’t going to outrun the gushing water.

He spots Kai eventually and almost cries out his name, but stops when Kai pulls himself up onto a higher ground. He stops and kneels on top of the mound, extending a hand down to Sehun.

Sehun pushes through the water faster and grabs onto Kai’s hand, letting Kai pull him up the mound. “Come on,” Kai gasps and yanks Sehun forward without letting go of his hand.

“We’re not going to make it!” Sehun shouts through the cacophony of the gushing water behind them.

“Have a little—” Kai cuts himself off when they are forced to stop at the dead end of the cave. They turn around, but freeze into place as the water floods in, clogging up the tunnel.

“You were saying?” Sehun gulps. He has never been afraid of death, but now that he is actually about to die, it terrifies him a little. “We’re going to die,” he lets out. “On a brighter note, _you’re_ about to die.”

Kai desperately looks around before glancing up at the ceiling. He sucks in a breath and draws his sword. With a murderous force, he sticks the blade up into the ceiling, causing a couple of grits to fall off.

When the water hits them at last, Sehun is shoved back and his head slams against the wall of the cave. He struggles for a moment, trying to swim forward, but the current keeps him pinned to the wall. The rocks glow underwater, providing enough brightness for Sehun to look up at Kai who is hanging onto his sword that is stuck on the ceiling. Sehun reaches a hand out and claws at Kai’s arm as he starts to suffocate, losing the air in his lungs, drop by drop. His vision begins to blur and his head pounds, screaming for air. He fights, but it feels as though his heart is about to explode. Kai is drowning, too, but the instant he sees Sehun is about to lose his fight, he glides towards Sehun in the water without letting go of his sword and grabs Sehun’s hair at the back of his neck. He crashes their lips together and blows whatever air there is left in his lungs into Sehun’s mouth.

Sehun’s hand desperately clutches the back of Kai’s head, wanting more air than what he has to offer. Kai pulls back and as soon as their lips part, he returns to sword and yanks at it. When it comes off the ceiling, he drives the sword back into it. Rocks come loose from the ceiling and rays of bright light pierce through the cracks. Sehun pushes off the wall to help Kai dig through the rocks.

Hope sparks inside him when the spot in the ceiling begins to crumble. Kai wrenches one last rock out of its place and pulls himself out before quickly grabbing Sehun’s forearm to pull him out, too. Sehun gasps as cold air fills his lungs again, handing him his life back. The crystal clear sky blinds him for a second as he falls to the rocky ground to catch his breath.


	20. Chapter Eighteen

He rouses to a mellifluous song, which flows like a honeyed wine, and a cold hand splayed on his chest beneath his shirt, a finger tracing a jagged scar there. He sits up with a jolt and brutally backhands Kai’s face.

Kai retreats, cursing under his breath and holding his freshly struck face. Sehun smiles in content for having successfully hurt him. But the smile soon falters when he looks around him. There are trees, branches full of leaves but no animation, a cloudless blue sky, a crisp air with no wind, and a song with no life. When has he passed out? He glances at the mountain they have escaped from nearby. He hasn’t made it much farther.

“What is… this place?” Sehun asks, pushing himself up to his feet. Did Kai drag him all the way here? Even the mere thought of Kai’s hands touching him sends a shudder down his spine.

“Aatwana. Land of the Nymphs,” Kai says, picking himself up from the grass. “Or what’s left of it, at least.”

“What does that mean?”

“The Nymphs are almost extinct.” He glances around, looking quite astonished himself. Sehun looks down at the map Kai picks up. The map is soaked and the ink is running, and there is no wind to dry it up. No heat. No cold. No nothing. Just a song. And Kai doesn’t look as anxious as he should be about not being able to find their way back.

“What is that?” Sehun asks as he treads on Kai’s heels.

“What is what?” Kai, surprisingly, entertains him.

“That song.”

He comes to a halt and Sehun almost bumps into his back. Kai’s eyebrows are drawn in a confused frown when he turns around to face Sehun. “You hear the Nymph song?”

“You don’t?” Sehun says, instantly feeling somewhat childishly special.

But the concern in Kai’s face worries him. He then huffs a breath, clenches his jaw, and starts walking into the forest of no life again. Sehun waits for Kai to give him some answers as the song grows louder. “They say only the purest of hearts and the king of kings can hear the Nymph song,” Kai mutters at length and Sehun blinks at the back of Kai’s head.

A smirk forms on Sehun’s lips. “So, you can’t,” he scoffs and almost laughs. But when he realizes that Kai is not joking, his shoulders slump. _Purest of hearts and the king of kings._ What does that even mean? Sehun is pretty sure he is neither.

“Only the worthy,” Kai adds sullenly.

Sehun shrugs. “I’m more satisfied about the fact that you can’t hear it.”

He sees Kai rolling his eyes when he catches up with the man’s long strides. Kai pins him with a sidelong glance then, eyes raking Sehun’s chest through the flimsy, wet, almost see-through shirt.

“The Nymphs are real, then,” Sehun says. He looks ahead at the osier tree and the lake. “How do you plan on finding one and making them cry for a tear?”

“I’ll gut them like a fish if I have to.”

Sehun shudders. Only Kai could be so offhanded about killing such beautiful, worshipped creatures.

The song loudens with every step they advance. Sehun soon understands that it is coming from the lake. He almost tells Kai that they should head that way, but then he realizes that his intention is to end Kai, not help him.

But his heart sinks when Kai stops and considers the lake. With narrowed eyes, he proceeds towards and Sehun limply follows. He eyes the ebony sword hanging at Kai’s hip and bites his lip. Though he is tempted to go for the sword and give a shot at attacking Kai, he knows it will be a futile effort.

Why hasn’t Kai killed him, anyway? Sure, he is a sick freak that enjoys tormenting Sehun for entertainment, but now that he knows who Sehun really is, Sehun can be a real threat to his throne and supremacy. And for some odd reason, Sehun isn’t willing to buy what Kai is selling.

“When will you tell me the truth?” he asks his brother.

Kai doesn’t respond.

Sehun grabs his arm and forces him to a stop. “Who are you?” he demands with a scowl.

Kai yanks his arm free and brings a hand to clasp Sehun’s neck. He does not grip it, but holds it. Menacingly. Sehun eyes the black star on Kai’s wrist again. His hand slowly tightens and Sehun suddenly remembers how uncannily strong Kai is for a mortal with such a lean, albeit ripped body. He thinks about Kai holding him down that night and Sehun had been defenceless against his strength. He thinks about it happening again and shudders.

Upon releasing Sehun’s neck, Kai starts towards the lake again. He stops at the edge and adopts a crouch before cupping a handful of water. He drinks it. Sehun fights the urge to childishly kick the bastard on the back and into the water.

It isn’t fair. Kai has saved his life…

That instant, his mind is momentarily cast back to the cave they were drowning in and Kai had forfeited all of his breath for Sehun. He thinks of the kiss. It wasn’t a kiss. But their lips had touched again and this time, there hadn’t been any blood. It had been for Sehun’s life.

He is snapped back to reality, or whatever this is, when Kai jolts up to his full height, gawking at the lake with a tight jaw. Sehun follows his gaze and finds a head surfacing from the water. He blinks at the fair head and silver eyes that are sharply observing Kai.

Slowly, the woman rises from the water, her sharp nose, rosy full lips, high cheekbones, pointy ears, long golden hair cascading down her bare breasts, everything knocks the air out of Sehun’s lungs. The water gleams on her dark, flawless skin. Sehun breathlessly draws his gaze down to her curvy hips and the glimmering blue gems that cover the lower half of her body. Her forearms are adorned by blue vines, the corners of her silver eyes are painted. As the water dries, her greenish dark brown skin begins to glow.

Kai seems to be caught in similar trance as Sehun when he looks at the man. Kai’s jaw is slack, his eyes hungry with lust. Sehun shifts his gaze back to the Nymph. She looks like a goddess. And her divine concentration is on Kai.

She walks on the surface of the water on her toes. “Mortal,” she sings and Sehun pants. She stops before Kai and lifts a hand to his chest. “Greedy,” she says in a voice like the wind. “Sinful.” Kai’s eyes flicker. “Two souls. One heart. Bloodthirsty. Strong.”

Sehun swallows.

“I know what you have come for,” the Nymph singsongs, dragging her hand to cup a side of Kai’s face. “You will never acquire it.”

“I will take it by force, then,” Kai says through his teeth in a raspy breath.

The Nymph does not smile, does not scowl. She regards Kai with a sober look. “What have you to offer me, then?” she asks.

“Whatever that you may desire,” Kai answers.

“We feed on virtue. Do you have any?”

That makes Kai scoff. “That ship has long sailed, I’m afraid.” He then pauses before glancing to Sehun.

The Nymph turns her silver gaze to Sehun as well. “Ah,” she chimes softly.

“No,” Kai says firmly. “His virtue is mine.”

Sehun pins Kai with a shocked stare. _His virtue is mine_.

“You may leave, then,” the Nymph offers, holding a hand out to the lake. “Back to your world, mortal.”

Kai locks his jaw. For a moment, Sehun thinks that he might just go for his sword. But he doesn’t. He looks at the Nymph with intent. “Certainly, there must be something else you long for,” he says in a diplomatic tone.

The Nymph parts her lips and leans in to brush them against Kai’s. Her breasts press against Kai’s chest. “Perhaps,” she lets out. Kai does not flinch, but his hands are balled into fists at his sides. “For a tear, a child.”

Kai does not seem shaken, but Sehun is. A Nymph has just offered Kai to bear his child, and he seems so calm. Sehun is gaping at them now. Kai’s expression then softens, he lightly tips his head and smiles at the Nymph. “What is the fly in the ointment?” he asks sceptically.

The Nymph’s smile turns seductive. Kai drops the map and latches his hands on her hips. “I will give you an heir who will see greatness you never will. He will achieve powers you desire, but fail to acquire. He, who will take your blood, will be both man and woman. Centuries from now, when your name will be forgotten, he will rise with the conqueror of realms, the slayer of kings. He will see victory being brought to his feet by a man worshipped by all. And he will bear a name you have forgotten.”

Kai’s face scrunches up with dread and this is the only time Sehun has seen him this perturbed. “Centuries from now?” he echoes.

“You won’t have an heir to succeed you,” the Nymph says harshly. “You will have an heir to bear your blood, to triumph the virtue you have relinquished. He will be born centuries later. And I will give him a name you betrayed in your previous life. But in this, you will die a lonely death. When the moment comes, he will die first, then you die.” She looks at Sehun then.

Kai’s eyes turn dark. “He dies first?” he asks, suddenly sounding sick. “How long after he dies?”

Sehun bites his tongue. He will die first. Which means Kai will kill him.

The Nymph smiles and caresses Kai’s cheek. “This is your last birth. A stolen birth that isn’t yours. A borrowed life. This life will be redeemed. You will enter the underworld and your soul will never be forgiven. This is the fate I see. You will have no use of my tear. You are meant for death.”

Kai’s hand flies up to the Nymph’s neck and he goes for the sword. Sehun vaults forward and puts himself between them, snarling at Kai. The Nymph continues to smile. “You lie,” Kai spits at the Nymph. “Your kind is known for your seduction and deception.”

“If that is what you have convinced yourself of, then I have nothing more to say,” she says calmly. “This is your fate. But your soul may be forgiven if you redeem yourself, if you return the birth you stole.”

“And centuries from now, someone will live the life I return?” Kai grates, grinding his teeth.

“Yes,” the Nymph answers. “It is your only chance. So, instead of my tear, how about a chance to free your soul?”

Kai clenches his eyes and pants. Sehun wonders if Kai is believing any of this. Sehun surely is. Which is why his stomach clenches when he thinks about Kai defeating him and not the other way around. But at least Kai will die when Sehun dies…

Then the realization strikes him. If that is the case, Kai will never let Sehun die.

“If you journey any further, it will be fruitless,” the Nymph adds, nearing Kai again. “You have the word of a Nymph.”

Kai’s face wilts. He stares into the Nymph’s eyes. Then smiling, the Nymph leans forward and kisses him. Sehun helplessly gawked. He isn’t even sure what is going on anymore. Has Kai agreed? Or is he just too heartbroken that his plan to take over the world is confirmed to be a failure by a Nymph?

The Nymph’s lips do not linger a moment longer on Kai’s. She draws back and presses her fingertips to Kai’s lips. “When the moment comes, I will come for you,” she whispers and steps away. “Time for you to return.”

Isn’t Kai going to kill her? This is one chance. What is doing? Sehun almost shakes Kai by the shoulders.

“We’re leaving?” Sehun asks in a whisper when Kai struts past him. He descends into the water of the lake and Sehun hesitates to follow. He turns to the Nymph who is now looking at him. “Have you nothing to say about my fate?”

She smiles again. “As this is your last birth, you will bring the Kingdom of Havegnia down with you when you die,” she says. “But your kind heart, though wrapped with a thirst for vengeance, will always continue to see a light of love in the man you dread and disrelish. Beauty is found within. And he, heartless and cruel, sees it.”

Sehun’s heart skips a beat. He shakes his head and hurries after Kai. They sink with each step taken. Sehun wonders if they must drown again to return. He doesn’t ask and silently mimics everything that Kai does.

Once they are completely submerged, Sehun holds onto his breath and then he feels Kai’s hand catch his own. When they resurfaced with a gasp, they are met with darkness again. The starless night sky hints that they have returned.

They climb their way out of the river, swimming against the current. Sehun fights for breath for a moment as Kai flumps down on the shore, loosely wrapping his arms around his knees. Soaked in river water, Kai idly stares into the night.

For some odd reason, Sehun feels the need to comfort him. Are you mad, he chides himself. This man has killed his family. He is a monster.

“What did she mean,” Sehun rasps. “by _stolen birth_?”

Kai does not reply.

Sehun crawls to his side. “I suppose you can’t kill me now, can you?”

Kai looks at him at last. “It does not help your case,” he mutters. “Some things are worse than death.”

Sehun swallows. “Repent at least now, Kai,” he says. “You will die a lonely death. You heard her. There is still time for you to right your wrongs and admit your crimes.”

Kai laughs then. He stands up and clutches at Sehun’s hair before yanking him to his feet. Sehun growls and digs his fingernails into Kai’s chest. “She made a grave mistake by telling me something I didn’t want to hear.”

“So,” Sehun spits, thrusting his nails deeper until Kai’s chest begins to bleed. “You will just break loose now? Are you going to hurt everyone and everything in your path?”

“No,” Kai hisses, tugging at Sehun’s hair. “Just you.”

The base where they camp is a little farther they had ventured earlier. Sehun struggles to break free from Kai’s clutch as Kai hauls him through the forest, back to the camp. At one point, he claws Kai’s neck and Kai hisses.

His grip tightens around Sehun’s hair and the world stops around Sehun for a moment when Kai slams his face against a tree. His forehead bleeds, blood pounds in his temples and everything spins. Sehun’s knees buckle, but Kai catches his waist before he could fall to the ground.

Throwing Sehun over his shoulder, Kai effortlessly bears Sehun back to the camp. Sehun’s vision blurs and he acknowledges the darkness that begins to seep into his senses. He hears a few gasps from the guards when Kai yells at them.

“Lock him up,” he orders, tossing Sehun to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super late update, was debating whether I should post the story on the site or here. Most of you said that you prefer it to be posted here as chapters, so I will be doing just that :) And omg, ALMOST 3000 kudos!! Thank you all <333


	21. Chapter Nineteen

The smell of blood and rotting flesh left to dry paints every brick of the dark room. Sehun wakes in a trance once more and he cannot keep a count of how many times he has roused and gone unconscious almost instantly. It must have been days. Weeks. Maybe even months. He does not know. He cannot see the sun, he cannot see the daylight. There is nothing but darkness and a foul stench of decomposing corpse he has gotten used to in the torture chamber. He does not recall when they had returned back to Havegnia. He remembers waking up one day in this humid torture chamber with dead bodies hanging around him. He is released from the chains once every day to use the commode and eat some stale bread. But his hands are always bound by the shackles.

His senses are turning numb as each moment passes in here. His body, a void. He feels empty, exhausted, as though the life is being drained out of him. There is nothing more to lose, he is on the brink of giving up. Except that he can’t. He has no option but to live on as a breathing corpse. His vision is always blurry when he is awake, his head a constant whirlpool. Every bone in his body feels like it had gone soft, limp. The blackness is a constant blanket around him. Whatever the liquid the guards sporadically are feeding him is, it is keeping him under, weak, and defenceless.

If it weren’t for the chains and shackles his wrists are bound to, Sehun would have collapsed on the ground. He is not even allowed such a small comfort. His hands are bound almost together, well raised above his head, linked to the considerably short chains that are fastened to the ceiling. He has tried tugging at it, but he retains no strength to prevail. He could not even kneel. The soles of his feet are numbed, bleeding, from standing for days.

_Some things are worse than death._

The pain ceaselessly twisting in his body is nothing, he is durable. But there is this fact that is causing him more pain than anything. Kai is going to keep him like this forever. For as long as he could since his death would make Kai’s inevitable.

While he is down here, he isn’t sure what goes up there. How many others Kai is torturing in his frustration after what the Nymph has divined. How is Tia, Sehun wonders often when he is sober. And somewhere, his mother must be waiting for him to return. Sehun feels helpless and completely hopeless.

Everything he has known now feels like a lie.

 _“Will you always be there with me, Kai? You won’t die, will you?”_ Sehun remember asking his brother once when Kai was about to leave for a battle.

 _“Always,”_ Kai had promised him.

Sehun has failed.

The gate opens and he waits for another round of the drug defeatedly. He weakly cracks an eye open to look at his torturer today. He sees no guard but he hardly reacts when he finds Kai entering, bearing a silver chalice. The thick, sweet scent of wine fills the dank room almost immediately.

He tries to keep his eyes open to survey Kai, who quietly takes his seat in the wooden chair a few feet before Sehun. He is dressed in nothing but a simple shirt, unlaced at his chest, and a pair of black breeches. Sehun drops his head limply and waits.

But Kai does nothing. He silently downs the wine and observes Sehun. Even in the poorly-lit torture chamber, Sehun could see the lust gleaming in Kai’s keen eyes. Keeping his lips pursed tightly, Sehun whimpers and the noise resonates through the chamber. His parched throat begs for some water that is not drugged and bitter. He heavily hangs on the chains and yields.

He wishes he harboured the strength to beg Kai to set him free and promise him that he will never return. Or for Kai to just end his misery and kill him. But neither will be taken into consideration, he knows.

“The Nymph spoke of my past birth,” Kai says, his voice feels like a knife to Sehun’s ears. He lets his eyes close and imagine that it is his brother who is talking to him. “I wonder if you had a part to play in my previous life.”

Sehun has no voice to reply, no energy to respond. His consciousness begins to ebb once more. Kai rises to his feet and Sehun hears his footsteps edging close.

The roughspun tunic is all that Sehun is wearing. It does little to shelter his body from the cold. And now, from Kai.

Kai stops only inches before him and idly studies Sehun’s face. “You look thirsty,” he mutters. Sehun raises his half-lidded eyes to look at Kai. Then weakly, he parts his lips, begging for some water. Kai does not smile, as Sehun thought he would. He considers Sehun’s parted, pleading lips for a moment, his dark eyes hungry for something to ravage. Then harshly cupping Sehun’s jaw and chin, he yanks Sehun’s face forward and crushes Sehun’s lips beneath his own.

With the meagre air knocked out of his lungs, Sehun struggles for breath with his lips pressed firmly against Kai’s. His chest tightens with agony. Perhaps it is the vulnerability the drug has caused, or perhaps it is Sehun’s incapability to think straight at that moment, but he moves his lips and parts them when Kai’s tongue gently brushes the seam of his lips. Their breaths mingle and Sehun relishes the sweet taste of wine of Kai’s lips. He feels sick to the stomach, but he finds himself weakly kissing Kai back.

Kai withdraws and lets Sehun catch his breath. His hand shifts to hold a side of Sehun’s face as he draws his thumb along Sehun’s throbbing lower lip. Kai licks his own lips and takes a mouthful of the wine before smashing their lips together again. Sehun moans into the violent kiss and gasps a little when he feels the warmed wine slide into his mouth and down his throat. It causes a stinging pain when it fills his stomach. It drools down the corner of Sehun’s mouth and Kai breaks the kiss to lick it up, from Sehun’s chin back to his lips.

Sehun gasps and pulls away. He is suddenly aware of how sore his shoulders are from having his arms raised for days. He glares up at Kai. Grievance washes over him and he utilizes whatever strength that he has to spit on Kai’s face.

Kai snaps his eyes shut for a moment and takes a breath or two, steadily. He then pours the wine over his head and washes Sehun’s spit with it. When his eyes flash open again, eyelashes clumped together with wine, he stares into Sehun’s eyes, piercing his soul. He runs a hand through his now wet hair to shove it back and out of his forehead. He brings the same hand to Sehun’s hip and curls an arm around Sehun’s body, yanking him close until their fronts are pressed loosely together. His hand, assertively and aggressively, grips Sehun’s arse, as their lips meet once more in a fiery kiss.

Sehun regains his composure and bites Kai’s lip as hard as he could. It bleeds against his own, but Kai does not flinch. He drives his tongue into Sehun’s mouth as Sehun stumbles against Kai’s body, clinging onto the shackles and chains above. Kai now smells and tastes of sickly sweet wine while Sehun is beginning to smell like Kai.

When Kai removes his grip from Sehun’s arse, he clutches at Sehun’s hair instead and lets out a ferocious groan into Sehun’s mouth. He pulls back abruptly and spins Sehun around. Sehun grabs hold of the chains with both hands and almost turns again, but freezes when Kai rips his tunic apart at the back.

Kai does not touch him. He is waiting, he is watching. Sehun feebly shudders, hanging his head forward when he feels Kai’s warm fingers brush the whip scars on his back. He gently draws his fingertips along Sehun’s protruding spine, sending a jolt down it. Sehun swallows hard and sobs for breath.

“A part of your body that’s never been touched by another or scarred,” he hears Kai purr behind him while his hand snaked around the curve of Sehun’s waist before he fingers the waist chain and goes lower to stroke the tailbone.

Sehun admits defeat and lets out a breathy moan. Kai cups a side of his arse and squeezes it, fingernails digging into the flesh. And then Sehun winces at the cold wine that runs down his back, all the way from the nape of his neck, down to his tailbone. He shivers when the liquid dribbles down the cleft of his arse.

Kai tosses the chalice away and kneels. Sehun grips harder at the chains and whimpers when Kai latches his hot, wet mouth to Sehun’s tailbone and sucks the wine flowing down his spine with his tongue sliding into the crack. Sehun’s eyes water and he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip to restraint himself from moaning. Kai slowly rises, kissing and sucking along Sehun’s back, licking every last drop of the wine he had spilled.

He then kicks Sehun’s ankles apart and lowers to his knees again. A king. On his knees. Worse. _Kai_ , on his knees.

He presses his lips to Sehun’s arse first, placing languid, firm kisses. Sehun exhales a trembling breath, clenching his eyes tight when he feels Kai’s tongue slide between his arse cheeks and brush against the rim of muscles. Sehun quakes and his eyes fly open. He pants in panic. Kai can’t be doing this.

Kai’s breath grazed the hole, his tongue smearing it with his spit. It gives nothing but discomfort at first. But the instant Kai’s tongue nudges into the opening, breaching it a little with the tip of his tongue, Sehun feels his blood stir in his loins. He bites his lip harder until it swells. He is not sure how is any of this pleasurable to Kai, but perhaps he experiences pleasure in a different way. Sehun grunts and whimpers as Kai sucks and licks his hole.

Everything around him becomes a blur and he turns his entire concentration on Kai’s mouth on the part of his body he never thought he’d ever be touched. But it feels familiar. His chest heaves as he pants. He is paying too much attention and he wishes that he could stop. He couldn’t. He feels the slight brushes of Kai’s lips on his skin, the hands tightly squeezing his arse to spread it apart, the tip of Kai’s rough tongue that is pushing through his opening, his warm saliva that cools against the sensitive area.

He almost moans in protest when the sensation disappears abruptly.

Kai grunts out a murderous groan and latches his hands on Sehun’s hips, yanking them back. Sehun clings harder onto the chains as he slightly bends forward, gasping for air, when he feels Kai’s wood-hard, thick cock press against his arse.

Grabbing Sehun’s hair with one hand and his cock with the other, Kai grinds against Sehun’s arse, rubbing his leaking cockhead all over Sehun’s hole. Sehun’s cry escapes his throat broken when he spills his own come all over his thighs and the ground. Kai’s grip tightens around Sehun’s hair when he comes, shooting thick, hot semen on Sehun’s opening.

Kai steps back, releasing Sehun’s hair. But he does not stop. He slaps a hand between Sehun’s arse cheeks and rubs the hole, spreading the semen all over it. Then turning Sehun around to face him, he forcefully drives two of his fingers into Sehun’s mouth. Sehun tastes the semen as Kai pulls his fingers out and streaks Sehun’s lips with his come. Then grabbing hold of Sehun’s hair again, he rams their mouths together and licks his own come off Sehun’s lips.

 

~*~

 

The guards release his shackles from the chains later that day. He expects them to shove the drugged drink down his throat, but they don’t. Instead, they drag him out of the torture chamber and Sehun squints at the light that burns his eyes when he enters the hallway.

He is brought into one of the private chambers and is bathed, scrubbed, perfumed. He is then dressed in a silky tunic. The servants help him limp to the bed and Sehun surrenders to the oblivion. He presses his face into the soft pillow and does not disrelish the soft linens that he lays on. He sleeps.

When he wakes again, he finds Tia seated on the bed’s edge with one of Sehun’s feet on top of her lap. She is applying a warm salve on his blistered sole. Sehun sits upright with a jolt.

“It’s okay,” she says quickly. “You’re safe.”

Sehun gapes at her. “What are you doing here, Tia?” He climbs out of the bed and so does she.

The Queen frowns. “That bastard,” she lets out, her eyes glimmering with tears. “What did he do to you?”

Sehun hangs his head. “You should leave. Stay away from me or he’ll hurt you, too.”

“I don’t care,” she says and closes the distance between them. “He didn’t get the Spirabiliz.”

“For now,” Sehun says.

“But he says he will get it. And he isn’t planning to use it on himself anymore.”

Sehun blinks at her. “What do you mean?”

“He was drunk and he was blabbering about you needing to be alive so that he wouldn’t die,” she says, looking confused. “He will still seek the Spirabiliz, he said. And he will let you have it. What does that mean?”

Sehun shakes his head. He knows it won’t work like that. Their fate is sealed. When he dies, Kai will die. “It doesn’t matter. Tia,” he rasps and takes her hands into his. “He killed his captain.”

Tia nods. “I know. He told me. Proudly.” Her face twists with grief and anger.

“Before Felix died, he told me that he and Kai trained together with a low-level guard. I have a feeling Kai is hiding something big… something dangerous. Felix somehow believed that Kai has a twin.”

Tia arches an eyebrow. “What?”

“I know. It sounds absurd. But he believed it like it was the truth. Maybe it is the truth. Kai called me a fool for believing what Felix said, but he also somewhat offhandedly told me that he had buried my brother… his twin, the real Kai under his bed in your chambers. I am not even sure if he was trying to fool me or was being sardonic. I don’t know what to think. But I think we might get our answers if you could find out who this low-level guard Felix trained with is.”

Tia seems to digest the information well. She nods her head quickly. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m sorry I cannot help you escape for the time being.” She raises a hand and strokes his cheek, scars and all. Sehun leans into the touch and sighs. In some other life, she might have been his wife, his queen and they would have ruled Havegnia together. But in this, they have both become Kai’s victims.

Their lips meet in a brief, but heart-breaking kiss. Sehun tastes the salt in Tia’s tears on his lips. “You must go,” he whispers, breaking the kiss half-heartedly.

Tia wipes her cheeks and bows her head. “I will try to keep his attention away from you.”

“No, don’t,” Sehun spits fiercely. “I’d rather he doesn’t come near you.”

Tia smiles painfully at that. As she leaves, Sehun sinks back into the bed and closes his eyes. He is a prince. This kingdom belongs to him. All that Kai has right now is stolen from him.

If he dies, Kai dies.

Sehun glances around the room. There isn’t even a window. There isn’t anything made of glass or anything that he could use to harm himself.

The door opens again and a servant enters with a platter of food. Sehun stares at it and his stomach grumbles as though on cue. Pea soup, wormwood roasted pork, and honey dariole, and a few sweetmeats. No…

Sehun glares up at the servant. “Who ordered this meal?” he demands.

The servant blinks at him. “The… The King,” she answers.

Sehun gapes at her. These are all his favourite foods from childhood. Sehun’s most absolute favourite. Kai could not have known that if he weren’t the same brother who ordered the cooks to make his little brother wormwood roasted pork whenever Sehun stubbornly demanded, refusing to eat anything else.

“I want to see him,” Sehun says. “Tell the motherfucker to show up before I choke myself to death.”

The servant winces and gawks at him, but she bows and leaves immediately.


	22. Chapter Twenty

“I am not your servant for you to summon as you will,” Kai snaps the instant he bursts into the chamber. “And neither will be I be swayed by your threats.”

Sehun rises from the bed, rubbing the sore bruise around his wrists where the shackles had been for days. “And yet, here you are,” he says, almost smirking. But he fails to find the strength.

Kai pins him with a black look and a lockjaw.

Sehun returns the glare before he lowers his eyes and lets out a sigh. “I am… confused. And I know that you’d like to keep me this way. Lost, unable to decipher anything about you. You _want_ me confused.”

Kai says nothing. He stares, looking a little vexed. Sehun has gotten under his skin. It is clear to see.

“You plan to keep me locked up,” Sehun continues calmly. He pushes the covers aside and sits up. Kai’s eyes briefly betray his dogged determination and fall on Sehun’s bare thighs. “For how long?”

Kai grinds his teeth, lifting his eyes to Sehun’s face. “Forever,” he spits.

Sehun scoffs, almost chuckling in amusement. “Forever is a very long time,” he mutters. “Do you plan to keep me at your side or locked away _forever_?”

Kai does not answer. Because his attention is elsewhere. He looks shaken and tired.

Sehun kneels up and looks at Kai earnestly. “Like the promise you once made me.” Kai’s eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. “You said that you would never leave me.”

For a fleeting moment, Kai’s face wilts. But his expression quickly hardens and he steps forward. He takes Sehun’s chin in his hand and forces Sehun to look up at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hisses. “Garnering mercy, are you?”

Sehun smiles. “I’d be a fool to seek mercy in a demon like you,” he whispers, kneeling up so that their gazes are levelled. Kai does not withdraw his hand from Sehun’s face. “You are either ill or possessed. And I will find out.”

Kai releases his chin and retreats a step. “Perhaps the dungeon is the right room for you.”

“Perhaps,” Sehun says, shrugging as he lowers back to the bed. “You will not keep this up, _King_ Kai. My body will fail if I continue to starve. I will find a hundred ways every day to kill myself, and thusly, kill _you_. You will live with this fear, dreading every moment for _my_ safety.”

Kai’s jaw tightens and his hands are balled into fists at his sides.

Sehun smirks. “Perhaps this is your punishment.” He picks up the tray of food and hurls it at Kai’s feet. The platters and the ewer clatter thunderously. Kai does not even flinch and he continues to keep his eyes piercing Sehun’s soul. “Or perhaps… this is my fair fight at the end of the line with you.”

He rises from the bed and crosses the distance between them. Kai’s chest is heaving with frustration but there is nothing that he could do.

“You may want to hurt me,” Sehun says. “Like you said. There are things worse than death. But no matter how much you try to break my skin, you will never break my strength. Eventually, you’ll grow bored and tired. What then? If I were you, I’d think with my head. Not my arse.”

He lightly shoves Kai by the chest and Kai stumbles back a step. He tightens his fists and Sehun smiles mockingly.

“You’re going to seek out the Spirabiliz and use it on me,” Sehun says, shoving Kai back once more. “I get the immortality. And you don’t die until I do. You are no fool. Surely you would have thought of the possibility that the Spirabiliz is nothing but hogwash. Or what happens if you don’t get your hands on it.”

He raises his hand to Kai’s chest again, but Kai’s hand flies up to seize Sehun’s wrist.

“Look at my face, Kai,” Sehun breathes out, fisting Kai’s shirt with his free hand. As he edges closer, Kai stiffens. His eyes move to survey the horrid scars on Sehun’s face. “Do I look like someone who is afraid of these _things worse than death_? But do you want to know what I’m truly afraid of?” He loosens his fist around Kai’s shirt and splays his fingers over Kai’s chest. “Finding out that you have a heart and that you really are the brother I once loved,” he whispers.

Kai parts his lips, gaze dropping to Sehun’s own parted lips. “You don’t tell your enemy what your weaknesses are,” Kai exhales.

“I know,” Sehun mutters. “But I wanted to see if you’d ever have the character to act on it.”

Kai purses his lips again and scowls. Then with a harsh move, he draws away from Sehun and storms out of the room.

Sehun heaves a sigh and plumps on the bed again. His stomach roars in hunger. But he is determined to bring Kai down. And if he needs to die for that first, then so be it.

 

~*~

 

_“Sehun, come here,” Kai calls._

_Sehun pulls away from Filo and sprints across the meadow before jumping onto his brother’s lap. He gasps at the flower circlet Kai has made with the wild meadow flowers. “It’s so beautiful!” he sings._

_“Do you like it?” his brother asks and places the circlet on Sehun’s head, on top of Sehun’s golden coronet._

_“I want to make one for Kai, too!” he coos and starts plucking at the flowers._

_“Maybe make one for Princess Tia.”_

_Sehun stiffens and scowls at his brother. His cheeks heat up and he juts his lower lip out. “No!”_

_Kai laughs. “Why are you blushing, then?”_

_“I don’t like her!”_

_“Okay, okay,” he says, holding his hands up in defence. “Fine. Let me help you make one for me.”_

_Sehun nods his head excitedly. “Only the red and purple ones!” he orders Kai when his brother begins to gather the flowers._

_“Because they’re my favourite colours?”_

_Sehun grins wide and kisses Kai’s cheek. “Do I look pretty?”_

_“You always do.”_

 

~*~

 

_Ugly bitch._

Sehun rouses to the sound of his grumbling stomach and the servants scampering across the chamber.

He sits up drowsily and rubs his eyes on the hilt of his palms.

One of the servants looks at him with fear and disgust in her frown. Sehun grits his teeth. He glances at the mirrors in the chamber and his heart sinks. He has never been this conscious of his monstrous look in many, many years. But that vivid dream reminds him of how regal and beautiful the royal family had been and how princely Sehun himself had been. He would have been the King of all of Havegnia. He would have been loved by many.

Now, he is just… a scarred creature, regarded with nothing but repulse.

He looks at the terrified servants again. He realizes not once has ever seen that disgust in Kai’s face.

He sits up straight and runs a hand through his hair before glancing at the gold collar and chain the servants are holding. He glowers at them.

“His… Highness,” a servant says, swallowing hard. “would like you to… join him for supper tonight.”

Sehun arches an eyebrow. “What’s the occasion?” he asks.

The servants exchange a cursory glance. “There… There is no occasion, I believe.”

Sehun sighs and stands up. The servants look surprised when he does not utter an objection when they locked the collar around his neck. He isn’t sure why Kai would invite him to a supper. But if the bastard thought that Sehun will be tempted to eat, he is wrong.

The guards outside the chamber take hold of the chain attached to Sehun’s collar and drag him to Kai’s chambers instead of the feast hall.

The thick scent of perfume suffocates him when he enters the bedchamber. It smells like a whorehouse and he freezes when his eyes land on the women in the chamber. There more than five of them—all clothed in scanty. The loose laces of their bodices spill out mounds of breasts and their lifted skirts expose their thighs.

The courtesans glance at Sehun and regard him with immediate aversion.

Sehun almost hisses when he feels the tug at his chain and turns to look at Kai.

“You were right,” Kai says as he yanks Sehun by the collar’s chain. He has tethered Sehun like an animal. Like a slave. He binds the chain to the lock on the wall before facing Sehun. Though he hasn’t shackled Sehun’s wrists, Sehun will not free himself. Because that is what dogs do, no? Kai has a complacent look about him. His mussed hair, dishevelled shirt, and limpid eyes hint at his exhaustion.

“What was I right about?” Sehun asks when Kai begins to pull away.

“I can break your skin, but never break your strength,” he says. The courtesans chime and giggle when he approaches them. Kai turns around and smirks in Sehun’s way. “I know a few other things that I could break, though.”

Sehun lowers his eyes. He is tired, too. His energy is drained and he is famished. Fatigue washes over him. He sits on the ground limply and rests his head against the wall. Kai is frustrated. He has lost. His plans are ruined. And worst of all, he can’t punish Sehun for that. Fear of defeat and death is palpable in Kai’s mien now. He is believing every word that Nymph had said.

Sehun looks at Kai entertaining the courtesans for a moment. One of the women straddles Kai on the bed while another undresses him. Sehun glances away and focuses on his shallow breaths. He wonders if what Tia is up to. Has she had any luck with the low-level guard Felix had mentioned? Is his mother really still alive? Maybe he can ask Tia to look for her. His thoughts are muddled. He feels the exhaustion pulling at his limbs.

“I said get out!”

Sehun’s eyes fling open at Kai’s sudden roar. He blinks in confusion as the courtesans grab their clothes and scurry out of the chamber, some of them cursing the King’s aggression under their breaths on their way out.

Sehun then looks at Kai, who is glaring at him from the bed. He looks annoyed and disappointed. Infuriated most of all. His unlaced shirt hangs open, and though he appears to be tired, the lust is clear in his eyes. There is a hunger waiting to be sated. But not by the courtesans.

Kai stomps towards Sehun and untethers the chain before tugging at it, forcing Sehun to stand.

“You think you’ve gotten under my skin?” Kai hisses, grabbing Sehun by the gold collar around Sehun’s neck. He then slams Sehun against the wall, baring his teeth like an animal. “You think you have won?! You have no idea how hard I have worked to get to where I am now. How much blood I have on my hands! I could end you right this instant.”

Sehun’s eyes droop to Kai’s quivering lips. “But you won’t take the chance,” he whispers. “Because you want to live so badly… You are so scared of Death, you don’t ever want to meet Him. Why… Why do you hunger to live so much? Why do you _want_ so much? You had everything… You wanted more.”

Kai grits his teeth and pulls Sehun close by the chain. “I told you that wasn’t me,” he spits.

“And I choose not to believe you,” Sehun murmurs, feeling Kai’s heart thump fast against his hand when he raises it to Kai’s chest.

Huffing ferociously, Kai drags Sehun to the bed.


	23. Chapter Twenty-One

**Check it out :* →[Absolute Zero: Exothermic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11962500)**

* * *

 

Though enervated, Kai harbours enough energy to flip Sehun onto his stomach on the bed and wind the collar’s chain around Sehun’s wrist before binding it to the headboard of the bed. A soft gasp escapes Sehun’s chapped lips when Kai slithers down his back and shoves Sehun’s tunic up. Sehun buries his face in the pillow, biting onto the sheets with whatever strength he has left, bracing himself for what is in store for his body.

Then there is nothing.

He raises his head after a moment and glances back at Kai, who is scowling at the deep whip scars on Sehun’s back. He looks incredibly tired that instant as his eyelids droop low. Sehun thinks he might just fall asleep, kneeling between Sehun’s thighs.

But then Kai crawls over the bed to grab a bunch of grapes from the platter on the bedside table. He clenches Sehun’s tunic with the other hand and drives it further up.

“Uh,” Sehun lets out a disgruntled moan when a cold grape touches the cleft of his back and as Kai draws it along his spine, Sehun’s breathing shallows. He nuzzles into the pillow to muffle his moans when the grape brushes his tailbone. The cold grape is soon replaced by Kai’s warm tongue and Sehun tenses. He clings onto the chain around his wrists and silently prays for Kai to stop, completely unsure if he really does want Kai to stop.

“I could break your bones,” Kai mutters, his breath gliding down the crack of Sehun’s rear. He raises a hand to grip a side of Sehun’s arse and squeezes it mercilessly until a gruff noise breaks from Sehun’s throat. “Perhaps I should cripple you. Break your legs and arms. Make you immovable, an inanimate object. No different than a chair or a paralyzed dog.”

A shiver surges down Sehun’s spine.

“Would you like that kind of pain?”

“Why are you doing this?” Sehun asks in a low, shaky whisper.

Kai is silent for a stretch before he says, “Because I think you’re most beautiful when you’re in pain and covered in scars that would be a constant reminder of the pain.”

Sehun’s breaths seize. He has never heard anything so convoluted before. It numbs his brain. _Most beautiful_ , _in pain_ , and _covered in scars_. How can they even lie near one another, let alone fit so perfectly in a sentence when they are uttered by a man so repulsive? How can anyone find a horrifying creature like Sehun _beautiful_ …

Mustering the courage, Sehun lifts his head and looks back at Kai. Kai licks his lips as he catches Sehun’s gaze and rips a grape from its bunch with his teeth. Sehun’s eyes fall heavy as Kai takes hold of his hips, thumbs stroking Sehun’s arse.

“Don’t,” Sehun lets out, not knowing if he means it. Or what he doesn’t want. He drops his face back into the pillow and whimpers softly when he feels the smooth skin of the grape, along with Kai’s hot breaths and lips, caress the puckered rim of his opening. “Ah,” he gasps when Kai sinks his teeth into the grape and breaks it, dribbling its juice all over the hole. He clutches at the collar’s chain and bites his lower lip to stifle a moan when he feels Kai’s tongue lick up the sweet liquid trickling down Sehun’s arse cleft.

Then worming his way back up, Kai grabs a handful of Sehun’s hair at the back of his head and yanks it to lift his head. Sehun pants with parted lips, eyes leering tiredly at the bits of crushed grape on the tip of Kai’s tongue. He opens his mouth wider as Kai leans closer. Kai slides a hand into Sehun’s tunic and splays his fingers over a side of Sehun’s chest. Sehun latches his lips to Kai’s tongue and eats the pieces of grapes from Kai’s mouth. He swallows, the sickly-sweet bits of the fruit, smothered in Kai’s own spit.

“Good boy,” Kai breathes against his lips, his hand warm against Sehun’s chest.

“Kai,” Sehun whispers, gazing into the man’s cold eyes. He likes hearing those praises from Kai’s lips. _Most beautiful. Good boy._ He might be turning into Kai’s actual dog…

Or he is just so hungry that even the tiniest drop of water tastes like a sea of honey.

Kai releases his hair and withdraws his hand from Sehun’s chest. Then as though defeatedly, he drops on the bed beside Sehun and throws an arm over his eyes. His half-undone shirt revealed the toned, bronze chest, and solid collarbones. Sehun marvels at them for a moment before he rests his head on the pillow, hands still bound to the headboard.

He shifts closer and lays his head on Kai’s shoulder. He waits for a moment for Kai to react and punish him for it, but Kai does not respond. Just like when Sehun used to be scared of the storm and he’d lay his head on Kai’s shoulder to fall asleep.

Kai slithers an arm under Sehun, between his stomach and the mattress, after a while and Sehun freezes. He hooks the arm around Sehun’s waist and holds him close without removing his other arm from his face. Squeezed into Kai’s side, Sehun closes his eyes, head resting lightly on Kai’s shoulder. He hears Kai’s soft snores first before he drifts off to sleep himself.

 

~*~

 

Tia does not take her eyes off Sehun, though she is completely aware of Kai watching her. Sehun, kneeling at the side of Kai’s throne, can hardly keep his eyes open. He is now past the stage of starvation. He is brutally dying now. Kai has not done anything about it yet.

Sehun keeps his head low at all times as Kai addresses the issues that has arisen among the servants.

“He scares us all, Your Highness,” someone says.

“Some are asking why Your Excellency would keep something so abhorrent at your side,” another chimes in.

Kai scoffs and grabs hold of Sehun’s chin to lift his head up. “Did you hear that?” he asks in a low voice. Tia scowls on the throne on Kai’s other side. “You scare them.”

Sehun, shoulders slumped and breaths ragged, let his head drop. He did not retain the strength to form words, let alone utter them. With every heartbeat, he is a moment closer to oblivion and Kai knows it. He is waiting for Sehun to yield.

“This is atrocious,” Tia says at length. “You cannot torment a free man as such.”

“He is not a free man, my Queen,” Kai says. “He is a miscreant. He committed high treason and open mutiny by attempting to assassinate the king of the realm.”

“And the punishment for that crime differs greatly from what you have meted out to him!” she snaps and jolts up to her feet.

Kai smirks at her. He delights in riling everyone up and then letting them know that they are powerless. “Why does the injustice bestowed upon poor wretch bother you so, my Queen? Is it a soft spot?”

Tia’s face grows red.

“Sit down,” Kai mutters. “And you,” he says, looking at the servants. “He will go nowhere. If his face scares you, then close your damn eyes.” He slumps back on the throne, as though this is all boring him now.

Sehun’s heart almost leaps out of his chest when the throne chamber’s doors are slammed open and the guards flooded in. “Sire!” one of them cries. Outside, a couple of trumpets are blown.

When Sehun looks up at Kai, he sees the man frowning in confusion, too.

“What is it?” Kai demands, rising to his feet. But before the guards could answer him, the herald enters and clears his throat.

“Announcing the arrival of the distinguished Crown Prince of Triyan, Alexius Castellanos the Third!”

“Fuck,” Sehun hears Kai utter under his breath.

A handful of Triyanian men barge into the throne room, all powerfully built, strapping, and broad-shouldered. Unlike Havegnians, Triyanian men are twice the size and they look like utter brutes.

Then another man, tallest among them, clad in riding raiment fit for a king, strides in. He has an easy smile on his bearded face. Sehun thinks he looks familiar. Not the face, but the sword he carries.

“Brother!” Tia gasps out of nowhere and races to the man.

“Tiara, darling!” the man exclaims and laughs, collecting his sister in his large, muscled arms before lifting her shortly from the ground to spin her around.

“Oh, my! You have come!”

“Of course. How could I have ignored your letter written with _so much_ …” He glances at Kai then and smirks. “ _love_.”

Tia pins Kai with an arrogant look then. Kai’s shoulders are squared but he smiles back.

“This is a pleasant surprise, Alexius,” Kai says.

 The Triyanian Prince crosses the room and bows before Kai. Then he straightens up and embraces Kai in his arms. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge that it’s a pleasant one, brother,” he muttered, face turning murderously grim for a moment before he draws back at grins at Kai again.

Sehun remembers then. He has seen the man many times during his childhood, whenever Tia visited. He used to think Alex’s sword must be made by the Gods. He also recalled those warm blue eyes now. But the last time he had seen the Triyanian Crown Prince was when Alex was in his mid-twenties. He must be at least mid-thirties now. And he looks it. Eyes weathered with experience, hands calloused with the remnants of duels, body built with strength.

“I plan to stay,” Alexius answers when Kai asks him if he is just passing through Havegnia. “For a fortnight, at least.”

“Marvellous,” Kai murmurs, unable to hide the disappointment in his tone.

“I have a lot to catch up with my sister and Father has also sent me as an envoy to look at the current matters of the kingdom.”

“And we all know how painstaking you are about attention to details,” Kai says with a smug smile and Alexius smirks back.

“But let us put first things first,” the Prince huffs and brushes past Kai, who arches a baffled eyebrow. Alex, who has not even spared Sehun a look prior to this, drops to a crouch before Sehun and smiles at him. He grabs the collar chain tethered to the throne’s armrest and rips it off with his bare hand until it snaps in half, releasing Sehun. “You look starved,” he whispers and slides a hand across Sehun’s face. Sehun thinks that he is about to caress his scarred cheek, but Alex hooks an arm around Sehun’s upper back and snakes the other under his legs before scooping him up into his arms and lifting him off the ground.

Kai stares, scowls, clenches his jaw. But he does not utter an objection and Alexius bears Sehun towards the bedchambers as Sehun weakly clings onto the huge man’s neck.

 


	24. Chapter Twenty-Two

 

 

_“Sehun, stop hiding,” Kai chides when he finds Sehun in the closet, plucking the petals of the flower Tia had given him earlier today._

_Sehun groans defeatedly as his brother hauls him of the closet. “I do not want to have lunch with her!” he cries, struggling to free his arm from his tall brother’s strong grip._

_Kai releases his arm. “Mother will be furious that you are being rude to our guests. Tia has sailed a long way to see you.”_

_“I do not wish to see her! I do not wish to marry her!” he yaps, shoving his brother away by the stomach._

_“You are not going to marry her right away, Sehun,” Kai sighs and drops to one of his knees, taking hold of Sehun’s shoulders. Sehun scowls at him. “Now, what must I do for you to come down and say hello to Tia and her family?”_

_Sehun pouts. He really had just fled when Tia showed up in the morning with a flower in her hand for Sehun. He looks up at his teenage brother. He likes how Kai’s cheekbones look now. His nose is also sharper. His brother has just recently turned sixteen and Sehun knows Kai already has plenty of suitors. It is all that the servant girls talk about these days. One of them is even trying to become Kai’s wife. Sehun finds it disgusting. He does not want Kai to get married. He wants Kai all to himself._

_He holds his palm up. Kai stares at it. “Promise. I want a promise that you will never get married to the servant girls.”_

_Kai laughs loudly until his eyes glisten with water. “Oh, my. Sehun…” He presses his hand on top of Sehun’s. “All right. I promise.”_

_Sehun grins then._

_“All right. Can we head back down now?” Kai asks and Sehun nods. He takes hold of his brother’s hand and lets his brother lead him down the stairs._

_He hears a cacophony of voices that chase him in the corridor of the feast hall._

_“Ah, here he is,” the Triyanian Queen chimes. Sehun bows accordingly before Kai helps him onto a chair._

_“Where were you?” his mother hisses angrily at him. Sehun juts his lower lip and keeps his gaze on the bowl of pea soup. It does not look appetizing. He could just slide it over to Kai to finish. But much to his disappointment, when he raises his head, he finds his brother taking his seat across the table, at Prince Alexius, Tia’s eldest brother’s side._

_Sehun starts to scowl when Kai exchanges a diplomatic smile with Tia’s brother. Prince Alexius is a decade older than Kai, so he looks much bigger in size and even sports a beard which Sehun thinks is gross. He does not like men with beard. Kai looks much smaller and younger than sixteen at the brute’s side._

_Scowling harder when Kai politely hands Alexius the salt, Sehun grabs the spoon and grips it like it’s a sword. He swings his short legs furiously as he leans closer to scoop up some soup. He then looks at Tia who is staring right at him. She grimaces and looks away when Sehun sticks his tongue out at her._

_“I am very sorry my husband could not join us for lunch today,” says his mother._

_“Oh, it is no trouble,” the Triyanian Queen says. “Besides, we’ve come to see my future son-in-law after all.”_

_Sehun wants to throw up in his mouth. His mother glowers at him when he looks at the Tia and her mother angrily. The discussion and focus immediately turn towards him. While the mothers joke about how Sehun is blushing (not because he is embarrassed, but because he is angry), Sehun tosses a pea at Tia’s cheek. She grumbles furiously and wipes her cheek with a kerchief._

_Sehun smirks victoriously. If he keeps annoying her, she would not want to marry him in the future. But he doubts the decision lays in her hands, though. He picks up another pea, ready to hurl it at her again when his mother catches him._

_“Sehun!” she snaps and Sehun gasps and drops his spoon to the ground._

_“Sorry, mother,” he mutters as a servant hurries to pick the spoon up and replace it with another. But his mother halts the servant and scowls at Sehun before ordering him to pick it up himself._

_Sehun sighs and climbs off the chair. He crawls under the table and picks the spoon up before he looks up at Kai’s foot that is brushing Prince Alexius’. As his gaze ventures further up, he is taken aback to see Kai’s hand in Prince Alexius’ firm grip—their fingers intertwined. Sehun tilts his head to a side and stares at their fondling hands for a moment before Prince Alexius withdraws his hand to stroke the inside of Kai’s thigh._

_“Sehun, come out,” his mother rebukes and Sehun climbs back onto the chair. He gapes at his brother then but Kai’s attention, shy smile, embarrassed and flustered red cheeks are all for Prince Alexius alone. Perhaps that is when he decides that he will never like Prince Alexius. Maybe except for the fascinating sword he carries._

~*~

When he rouses, he finds himself sprawled on a bed in a chamber he is not familiar with. He wonders if it is one of the guest chambers, reserved only for members of royalty. His head is lighter and much to his dismay, the starvation has been placated. His fast for death has been broken.

He sits up on the bed and groans into his hands as he massages the temples of his forehead. His strength has been restored as so have been the sense of despair and hopelessness. He vaguely recalls being brought away from the throne chamber and being fed with a bowl of soup while he was about to flake over to oblivion.

He lifts his head and stares at the men in the room. It is not hard to distinguish their clearly Triyanian features from that of Havegnians. They are tall, broad-shouldered, olive-skinned, huge, and bearded. There are six of them in the chamber, all staring back at Sehun, and one of them mutters something too quiet for Sehun to make out to another man before the latter storms out of the chamber.

Only after his vision clears does Sehun notice the tallest man in the room. Prince Alexius. He stands towering above the others, clad in his green and black cloak.

“How are you feeling?” he inquires.

Sehun blinks at the man. _What is happening,_ he wonders. “I’m…” he begins and trails off, eyes landing on the breastpin the men wore on their cloaks. It has the same insignia of the medallion Alexius bears. These men are servants, or more accurately, companions. Triyanian royal blood practices a modern institution where the Crown Princes and Princesses take companions instead of lackeys and bodyguards. This way, the loyalty among them is hard to waver.

What are they doing in here, watching over him, though, he pondered.

“You need not be afraid,” Alexius says, as though Sehun is some weak milksop that needs these large brutes looking out for him. Sehun scowls at the Triyanian. He never really liked their kind. Even as a child. It is part of the reason why he did not take a liking to Tia when they were younger. The Triyanian men are overly brutish, the women overly graceful. But nonetheless, he has learned that there is a tough side to Tia. It is hard to not to be influenced by the aggression her father and brothers ply on a daily basis. They are hasty people, always keen on war. Havegnia has always been wary when it comes to dealing with Triyanian affairs, for the reason that neither the Triyanian King nor his five sons are ever afraid of drawing swords and shedding blood. A friend, Triyan is the best ally. A foe, none can prevail the Triyanian supremacy.

“I am not afraid,” he snarls at the man and shoves the covers aside.

Alexius shares a conceited smirk with the other men. “We’ve heard that you are quite the feisty Slayer.” Sehun scowls harder at the men. “So feisty in fact you invaded the King’s quarters and tried to assassinate him.”

“Your stories are fascinating,” another chimes in. He has deep green eyes and hair darker than Alexius, looks slightly younger than the Prince.

“So fascinating indeed. It is rather sad to see you with your pants down when you have been such a fierce assassin,” Alexius jokes and the rest of his followers laugh. Sehun’s scowl turns into a glare.

“Leave him be, brother,” Tia snaps as she saunters into the chamber in a haste with the man who had left the chamber momentarily at her side. “Sehun,” she gasps, rushing to the side of the bed. “Close the doors.”

Sehun frowns. No guards, no Kai, no other Havegnians but Sehun himself are present. How is Kai allowing all of this?

“Are you feeling all right?” Tia asks as Sehun sits up on the edge of the bed.

“I am fine,” Sehun answers curtly. “Who are these men and what is your brother doing here?”

Tia looks at the six large men and smiles. Her eyes particularly meet the one standing closest to Prince Alexius, the green-eyed one, and he smiles endearingly at her. “These are my brother’s companions. I’m not sure if you have heard of the Six Irons.”

Sehun has not heard of it. But he has a pretty good guess of what it might be. Some arrogant Princes take honour in forming and naming a band of their companions that is basically meant to terrify and scare others off. Nothing can penetrate these bands. No one comes in, no one goes out. They are brothers with an unbreakable bond. Oh, and this band is indeed terrifying. Sehun, as a young child, did indeed want a band of his own companions, too. But it isn’t a tradition the Havegnian royal family practises. Not that it would matter anymore, considering all the traditions Kai has deserted to practise his god-awful ways.

“We’re safe. You’re safe,” Tia reassures him.

“This is Diarmid, the Captain of the Six Irons,” Alex says, clapping the green-eyed man’s shoulder. “He will be your shadow hereafter.”

Diarmid bows his head and smirks at Sehun. Sehun is not one to abuse his true status of royalty, but he would love to see that smirk being wiped off when these men realize Sehun is a Prince.

“They are all friends,” Tia says with a smile. She brings a hand to Sehun’s shoulder and squeezes it gently. “I grew up with them.”

“We have indeed been with this fool for over twenty years,” another man says, throwing an arm over Alexius’ shoulders, regardless of his noble-born status.

Sehun is still as clueless as he was a moment ago. “Why are they… here?” he decides to ask Tia.

“I sent my brother a missive,” Tia says in a low voice. “We have to do something and I don’t think I can help you all by myself.”

Sehun sighs. “There is no point in any of this, Tia,” he says as gently as he could.

“Well, there is.” It is Diarmid who answers. Sehun looks at him once more and studies his dark hair and moss green eyes for a moment. Before he could add to that remark, Tia interrupts.

“They know who you are,” she says and Sehun’s heart sinks. He looks at the men again and frowns. If they know who he is, then why haven’t they already tried to dethrone Kai and restore the throne with its rightful heir? Then Tia answers his question as though she has read his mind. Or perhaps the distress in his expression. “Brother says that father would never assent to you, a Vagabond Slayer, a runaway, being crowned as the King of Havegnia, especially when Kai is proving to be a great ruler, regardless of his atrocities within the palace. Even if you _are_ the Prince.”

“So, what is the plan, then?” Sehun asks. “Your father will side with Kai even when he finds out how Kai rose to the throne?”

“Look here, kid,” Alexius says and Sehun glares at him. “You have committed to nothing but mistakes thus far. Why don’t you trust us and let us help you?”

“Why? Because Your Royal Highness think that you can help me?” he spits and turns to Tia. “I did not ask for any of their help, Tia.” He rises from the bed. “Look at my face. Do I look like I need their help? I don’t think you realize the depth of the complication I’m mired in.”

“I know, Sehun,” Tia sighs. “But we _do_ have a plan.”

Sehun shakes his head but he does not argue any further. He glances to Alexius who is staring back at him. They hold each other’s gazes for a moment before Alexius steps forward.

His expression has hardened. “I am sorry,” he says, surveying the scars on Sehun’s face. “I had no idea that he… could be such a monster. And my sister hasn’t sought our help until now.” This is an expression of anger and disappointment directed towards Tia.

“Father never would have listened,” Tia mutters.

“ _I_ would have, Tia,” Alexius spits. “Besides, I kind of knew what sort of a snake he is capable of being.”

“Thank you,” Tia says and hugs her brother. “You must be exhausted. Why don’t you rest and I will have the servants prepare him for dinner?”

Alexius kisses the top of his sister’s head before drawing away. “Very well.” His gaze flits to Sehun briefly before he and the rest of his companions exit the chambers.

“What dinner?” Sehun asks Tia once they are gone.

Tia smiles. “Why don’t we mark today as the beginning of Kai’s downfall?”

“You are presumptuous if you think we could defeat him that easily,” Sehun mumbles.

~*~

When he enters the dining hall, he pauses to look down at the gold and green coat Tia has ordered him to wear tonight. He knows all this adornment would not help the monstrosity of his face, but he could not snap out of the trance of disbelief that he is, for the first time in a very long time, clothed like a prince. In spite of the golden collar around his neck, he looks rich, royal.

He is bathed, perfumed, clothed expensively. Certainly, none of this is for Kai. It is to present him formally to the Triyanian Prince. For what reason, he is yet to find out.

The table is filled to the edges with food that make his stomach grumble. His gaze then darts to Tia and Kai who lifts his head to look up at Sehun. He gawks for a moment before his attention shifts to Prince Alexius who saunters into the hall along with his companions.

Alexius pauses to smile at Sehun. He then takes hold of Sehun’s hand, much to Sehun’s surprise, and leads him to the table. He even pulls a chair out for Sehun. Kai is now watching with amusement.

“Good evening, Your Highness,” Alexius greets with a nonchalant grin as he takes his own seat.

Sehun glances around him as the companions settle at the table like soldiers ready to ravage.

Kai lifts his winecup and commences the dinner. Most of the conversations remain civil and political. Sehun shows little interest in them. Eventually, he abandons his desire to die from starvation and helps himself to the baked lamb and seared potatoes.

Eventually, one by one took their leave from the table as the night wore on. Tia bids her brother goodnight when she decides to retire for the night while Alexius and Kai continue to drain their winecups, both observing each other with passive-aggressive stares relentlessly.

Sehun wonders if he should remove himself, too, but when he starts to get up, Kai glares at him with a tacit order: _Sit. Down._

“Word is that you are looking for the Spirabiliz,” Alexius says and Sehun freezes.

Kai smirks and slumps in his chair. “You are very resourceful, just as your reputation precedes you, Alexius,” he scoffs.

“Oh, you know all about my reputation… and more, don’t you, Kai?” Alexius takes a slow sip of his wine, keeping his eyes steady on Kai.

Kai lowers his gaze, though the smirk continues to play on his lips. “When will you ever forgo your grievances with me, Alex?”

Alex takes a bite of the lamb meat and leans back in his seat. “My father might be a fool, who fell for your promises and gave my sister’s hand to you, along with the pledge of fellowship, but I do not need your friendship, Kai. I can hold onto my grievances for as long as I want.”

Kai shrugs. “You still resent me for taking your sister instead of you?” he laughs and Alexius calmly stares with steely determined eyes, as though nothing could waver his strength of character. Especially not Kai’s dirty tactics to play on a man’s emotions.

“No,” Alex chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. “I resent you for being a fucking slut, whoring his way into my bed just so that he could get enough information out of me to win a measly battle, sweetheart.”

Kai’s smirk dies and his jaw tightens.

Alex straightens up. “You could have just simply asked me to lose the battle for you and you know that I would have.”

“Oh, but where’s the fun in that?” Kai snorts, smiling smugly again.

Sehun clenches his teeth. How many lies has Kai told, how many acts, how many treacheries, how many betrayals? Is this the man Sehun once loved so dearly as his brother? Was he just acting all along to get what he wanted?

“Let it go, Alex,” Kai sighs at length. “How are your children?”

Alex licks his lips and lets out a scoff. “Actually, I am more interested in talking about your little… pet here.” He glances at Sehun.

Kai hums and clicks his tongue. “Isn’t he absolutely fascinating?” His eyes meet Sehun’s and bore into them until Sehun finds himself looking away.

“A few days before the news of your father’s assassination and mother and brother’s so-called abduction,” Alex says and Kai’s eyes return to glower at the man. “you were… very keen on Triyanian mercenaries. You know, the kind that does all sorts of dirty works for a little price?”

Kai’s face hardens. “And your point is?”

“Well, because I was totally whipped and too damn blinded by my affection for you, I believe I gave you a name of the illicit mercenary organization in the district of Coltha. Does it jog your memory a little?”

Kai hands clenched into fists.

Alex smirks. “I’m starting to think you did not use them for, how did you put it, ‘trivial matters’.”

Kai laughs then. “You caught up too slow.”

“No,” Alex says. “I caught up a long time ago, sweetheart.” So, _sweetheart_ is something Kai picked up from Alex. “But it’s a dog-eat-dog world.”

“You’re telling me you loved me so and that’s why you didn’t do anything about it?” Kai rolls his eyes.

“I was fooling myself into thinking that you are not that sort of a degenerate. But I thought I’d keep it in my back pocket. Now, you were inquiring about my children. I am not sure if you’ve heard that my court is seeking a consort for myself.”

“I have heard. My apologies about your late wife,” Kai says.

Alex dismisses the half-assed apology. He looks at Sehun. “This pet of yours… Is he worth the price of my silence?”

“What do you mean?” Kai asks, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Sehun is swimming in similar confusion as he stares into Alex’s calming blue eyes.

“I would like to have him,” Alex says bluntly and Sehun’s mouth falls open. “As my consort.”

All colour and warmth drain from Kai’s face. “No,” he says at once. Firmly. Decidedly.

Alex smiles. “You were missing at the front the night the High King of Havegnia was murdered. With what I’ve investigated, the guards were assigned by you to steer clear from the King’s quarters.”

“You do not want to make an enemy of me, Alex,” Kai spits through his grit teeth.

“Funny how you always know how to pull the words out of my mouth.” He rises to his feet after draining his winecup and holds a hand out to Sehun.

Staring at it for a moment, Sehun looks at Kai, and then back at Alex’s hand. Kai is glaring. Sehun takes Alex’s hand and lets himself be drawn up.

“Alex,” Kai begins to protest as he shoots up to his feet and seizes Alex’s arm. “Let him go.”

“Oh, I’m not done with you yet, Kai. Don’t get all worked up so fast,” Alex mutters, securing his grip around Sehun’s hand. “Of course, my bed is always warm for you should you decide to join me.”

Kai releases Alex’s arm and stares at Sehun, as though he is about to murder him. But he stays put as Alex drags Sehun away.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Three

Alex only releases Sehun’s hand when they reach the balcony, away from other eyes, away from Kai’s eyes.

Sehun is silent. He isn’t sure what to say to a man who had slept with his brother, constructed the way for Kai to destroy his family, usurp his kingdom, enslave him, and every other brutality on his account.

But the guilt and regret entrenched in Alex’s expression as he leans over the railing are immodest and apparent.

“Is it true?” Sehun asks when he finds the silence unbearable.

The Triyanian Prince turns to face him. He sighs. “You might need to be a little more specific than that if you want an answer,” he says.

Sehun’s eyebrows furrow. “I mean, did you play a part in…” He hangs back and bites his lip. “You have known for a long time, haven’t you? That he… he killed my father.”

Alex is mumchance for a moment. Then he nods curtly. Sehun tries to fight the urge to smack a flowerpot against the Prince’s head.

“You could have done something!” Sehun rasps, anger bubbling in his chest. “But then again, perhaps you are just as heartless as he is.”

“I loved him,” Alex sighs and turns around, leaning his back against the railing now. “He was a bastard child. He had no promises whatsoever to claim the throne. He would forever be overshadowed by his half-brother, the rightful heir of Havegnia and I don’t think anybody would love to be the wingman forever.”

“So, it’s empathy?” Sehun spits. “At the expense of the ruination of an entire family? He killed the man who loved him like his own son!”

Alex scoffs. “Have you seen the scars on his body?” He straightens up. “They must have faded now but I have seen them, felt them when they were still fresh and new. Burn scars, whip scars, cane scars, and cuts. So many cuts. New ones every time I met him. You say your father loved him like his own son? I have witnessed your father’s _fairness_ and _impartiality_ first-hand when I saw how he beat Kai to bruises and contusions without mercy for trivial mistakes in front of his court. That’s how he had caught my attention in the first place. He was just a boy, who wanted to belong. And I don’t think any of you made him feel like he belonged.”

Sehun’s breaths come short and laboured to him. He braces himself against the wall and focuses on his breathing for a moment. “No… It can’t be. I don’t remember any of it being this way.”

“You were young,” Alex says, his voice rough and gravelly.

Sehun gets a grip and sucks in a sharp breath. “Be that the truth. Is it still fair that you turned a blind eye to his atrocities just because of your _pity_ for him?! You looked the other way while he had slain my father, tried to imprison me, and succeeded with my mother. Do you think it is fair? Is this the justice you stand for? Then I’m not sure what you’re really doing here.”

“He used me,” Alex snaps. “And I let him. Because of my pity for him, yes. Sleeping with the commander of the army is the best way to get the most useful information to win a battle, perhaps a little more effort, and even the war. But I should have known sooner that he was planning for something bigger. He was so keen winning that particular battle for your father. It would get him a promotion, which got him a little closer to the King’s Guard. I’m guessing he must have had the Captain on his side.”

“Felix,” Sehun mutters to himself.

“Who?”

Sehun shakes his head. “It might have been Felix. But I’m not sure. Kai killed… Felix and before Felix died, he told me that… he told me some things and I think it might just be a lie after all. Just like how Kai got under your skin for his own agenda. And he must have gotten under Felix’s, too. He would do anything. If he were capable of whoring himself out to you for some information, he might have put on a show to earn Felix’s friendship and trust.”

Alex arches an eyebrow and snorts in amusement. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Like I said, the best way to win a battle.” He shrugs.

It has Sehun thinking if Kai is trying to get under his skin now for some hidden purpose. He has noticeably been subtle with his actions ever since what the Nymph said. Is Kai dithering or is he being tactful?

Sehun clears his throat. “Now you know who I am and who _he_ is. What are you going to do about it?”

“I can help you get out of here. But I don’t see how I can get him to step down from the throne and relinquish it to you. You have lost your identity. We cannot reclaim it,” Alex says.

“But _you_ believe who I am.”

“I trust my sister’s judgment,” Alex says. “My father will never side with you. Kai knows his politics too well. He is a marvellous ruler, even you have to admit that. And without my father’s support, I cannot fight Kai head-on.”

Sehun scowls. “I don’t need you to get me out of here. This is my home. Besides, I don’t think you can easily whisk me away from Kai. He… owns me now.”

He is not sure why it doesn’t taste as bitter as it should. Maybe it feels nice to be belong to somebody. Was that what Alex had meant when he said Kai wanted to belong?

“You… didn’t mean it when you said you wanted to take me as your consort, did you?” Sehun asks, feeling a little tense now.

Alex looks at him, musters him from head to toe. “I said it to see his reaction,” he says, smirking. “And I’m satisfied with what I saw. But I wasn’t entirely joking.”

It doesn’t seem like a relief to Sehun. “If you are going to help me, then help me dethrone him. Help me find my mother. Help me make him pay for everything that he has done.”

All these were more important than watching Kai die. And if his death was inevitable when Sehun dies, Sehun needs to make certain that his mother is saved, the kingdom knows what sort of a monster Kai is, and he wants to see Kai crumble before anything.

“I’ll help you,” Alex says carefully. “In any way I can. Me _and_ the Six Irons. But we cannot do much under his roof. I need you to play along.”

“What?! As in _marry_ you?!” Sehun hisses. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am not exactly the consort material here!”

Alex deliberately studies the scars on Sehun’s face. “Is that the only reason why you won’t marry me?” he scoffs out a chuckle.

“Fine. I don’t really like you.”

“You never did. Even when you were a child.”

Sehun was jealous. He did not like the way Kai had fawned over this man then and he does not like the way Alex silenced Kai _now_. It is as though Alexius has some sort of power over Kai, some power that Sehun does not.

“But if you married me, it’s an easy way out,” Alex says nonchalantly. “You will also be protected under the Triyanian laws henceforward. Of course, it needs only be an act. As soon as you’re out of his clutches, we can get a divorce.”

“You are very smug and flippant about marriages, like it’s some petty matter,” Sehun remarks, glowering.

Alex laughs insincerely. “Unless you have a better plan, of course.”

“How are you planning on evading Kai’s wrath? I don’t want you hurt, Prince Alexius. I saw what he did to Felix… I cannot…” he stops himself to catch a breath when the horrid memories flash before his eyes.

Alex grips his shoulder and squeezes it lightly. “Kai would never. Havegnia’s alliance with Triya is far too fragile for him to jeopardize it. He would not risk it. And after that threat I just threw in his way, I don’t think he would value you more than his own safety.”

That stings a little.

“You might be surprised,” Sehun utters under his breath and sighs. “You heard that he is seeking the Spirabiliz and he will not stop looking… While we went looking for it, a Nymph—” He cuts himself off. He looks up into Alex’s blue eyes and retracted. He probably shouldn’t divulge such a sensitive information that could be held against him.

Alex drops his hand from Sehun’s shoulder and smiles. “You know, if you’re going to marry me, you should trust me a little,” he says.

Heat rushes to Sehun’s face. This topic feels too awkward and uncomfortable. Is this really happening or is the Prince just fooling around? “I haven’t agreed…”

“You are not achieving anything by staying put. I hope you realize that. You were almost dead from starvation and fatigue when I found you.”

“I was trying to make a point through a demonstration,” Sehun argues. “Definitely did not need you to save me. In case you didn’t notice, I’m a trained Vagabond Slayer.”

“A very sloppy one at that, if I may add,” Alex mocks and Sehun scowls. “Tia had me enlightened about your little fiasco with Kai the first night you showed up. That was either incredibly stupid of you or admirably brave.”

“I wish I had a sabre right now,” Sehun grumbles and Alex smirks. When the humour between them dies, Sehun sighs and says, “You do not want to _marry_ me, Prince Alex. Even though it’s just a favour. It’d be a mark on your records forever.”

Alex closes the distance between them and Sehun is suddenly extra aware of how huge the other man is. “You’re a Prince,” Alex says in a voice almost as low as a whisper. He raises a hand to cup a side of Sehun’s face and Sehun freezes as Alex runs a thumb along a jagged scar on his cheek. “None of these is going to ever change that fact.”

There is a knock on the door and Alex withdraws his hand. “Alexius,” the Captain of the Six Irons says when he enters.

“Yes, Diarmid,” Alex sighs and walks away from the balcony.

“A palace guard wishes to see you.”

Alex curiously tells him to bring him in with a sly grin playing on a corner of his lips, as though he knows exactly what he is about to hear.

The palace guard stumbles in, almost shaking with Diarmid, twice his size, at his side. He bows his head. “P-Prince Alexius, Your Excellency,” the guard stammers. “His Majesty, the King wishes to see you in his private quarters immediately, sire.”

Alex’s grin widens. Sehun almost interferes to tell Alex to not to accept the invitation. God knows what deviltry Kai might have planned.

“I am a little pre-occupied with something at the moment,” Alex says instead. “Tell him to come see me in my chambers if it is that urgent.”

Sehun mirrors the guard’s shocked reaction.

But the guard bows and storms off at once.

“Is it a good idea to want a vulture in your bed after all that he’s done?” Diarmid says, cocking an eyebrow.

“I have a few qualms I need settled with him,” Alex says with a shrug. “You and the others, stay close tonight.”

With that order, Diarmid left the bedchamber but Sehun knows he and the rest of the Six Irons continue to remain in the neighbouring chambers.

When Alex turns to Sehun, he smiles. “Relax,” he says, as though he could thoroughly read the distress in Sehun’s expression.

“Like I said, I don’t want you or anybody hurt,” Sehun mutters. “And you really are keen on pushing his limits tonight. If he loses it—”

“Don’t worry. If there’s anyone getting hurt tonight, it’s probably going to be him.” He winks and pulls his green coat off, stripping down to his undershirt. Sehun stares at the well-built muscles around Alex’s arms and broad shoulders. His back of his neck looks powerful.

He pours himself a cup of wine before pouring Sehun one, too. He hands out the winecup to Sehun with a smile.

“Drink,” he says. Sehun obliges. He is getting used to obeying orders.

The bedchamber doors spring open eventually before they are slammed shut behind him as Kai strides in, wearing a brutally fierce scowl, holding a tight lockjaw, hands balled into fists.

Alex confronts him with an easy smile. “I was starting to think that you might not show up,” he says. Kai’s eyes momentarily flit to Sehun and his anger seem to worsen. But he isn’t carrying his sword and his dishevelled shirt, mussed hair, pinked cheeks suggest that he is slightly fuddled either by his frustration or alcohol.

“You dare to humiliate me in my own castle?!” Kai yaps, turning back to Alex.

Sehun has only seen Kai lose his perfect composure once or twice but this time, he has completely lost his collectedness for a reason Sehun cannot surmise.

Kai is _annoyed_.

“So, that’s what had you rushing to my chambers like a mad bull?” Alex scoffs, nursing another cup of wine. “I’m glad I did, then.”

Kai looks at Sehun again, angrily. He then glances at Alex and grimaces at the fact that Alex is drinking and has undressed. “We need to talk,” he snaps at the Triyanian Prince.

“Is this about your pet? Sorry, but he sleeps here tonight,” Alex replies calmly. Kai is gritting his teeth now. Alex puts the winecup down and crosses the room to reach Sehun. “But of course,” he says arrogantly as he stops a foot before Sehun, gently takes the winecup from Sehun’s hand and raises his hands to the laces of Sehun’s tunic. “if you can offer to sate some of my hunger, I’m willing to share.”

Sehun halts dead where he stands as Alex’s fingers brush his collarbones before the Prince bows his head, leans in, and brushes his lips on a side of Sehun’s neck. Sehun shudders and clenches his eyes tightly for a moment as Alex holds a side of his face, caressing his cheek while his mouth burns against Sehun’s skin at the neck.

When he cracks his eyes open and looks over Alex’s shoulder, he finds Kai staring at them with a scowl etched to his eyebrows. His breathing quickens.

Sehun bites onto his lip and closes his eyes once more when Alex’s arm snakes around his waist before his hand slides past Sehun’s tailbone. Alex draws his lips past the gold collar around Sehun’s neck and tongues the collarbone.

And the heat and wetness disappear all of a sudden.

“That’s _enough_ ,” Kai spits through his grit teeth as he yanks Alex away from Sehun. He pins Alex with a ruthless glare before he turns to Sehun. “Get the fuck out.”

Sehun does not move. Because Alex has a hand gripping his wrist.

* * *

_A/N I am immensely thankful for everyone who showed KLP an unbelievable amount of love! Thank you for reading, and the kudos and the comments! I'm sorry I haven't got the time to update this story often._

_Also, the first two books of my Sehun x Male OC fic is up!! It's royalty!_ au _and demon!au!—love triangle and mpreg. → **[INCUBUS](http://revvee.wixsite.com/hyperionova/incubus) ** (click on the covers for the _pdfs _)_

_And check out **[DRAGOVAN](http://revvee.wixsite.com/hyperionova/d-r-a-g-o-v-a-n)** (Jongin x Male OC) if you haven't already. Book 4 is not complete yet, but part one of it is up! _

_Thank you if you've already read them! I am receiving a tremendous amount of love for Dragovan and Incubus, thank you so much for all the feedback!!_

 


	26. Chapter Twenty-Four

“Let him go, Alex,” Kai says with a snarl, each word resonating with threat.

Alex hums, pulls Sehun closer to his side. Sehun’s head voluntarily tilts when the Triyanian Prince brushes his lips against a side of his neck. “Is that a plea or a warning, Kai?” Alex purrs, his beard grazing Sehun’s skin, causing him to shudder against the larger man’s body.

“A fucking ultimatum,” Kai spits. “He’s not _yours_ to meddle with.”

Sehun’s eyes flashes open and he blinks at Kai in shock. Is this what it’s all about? Kai feeling threatened with the status of his ownership of Sehun?

“He’s yours, I presume?” Alex says calmly, an arm curling around Sehun’s waist from behind as he rests his back against Alex’s chest. His cheeks are burning and his hands are shaking. He isn’t sure if Alex is doing this to rile Kai up or if he would actually go the distance and take Sehun to his bed tonight.

“I am not used to having orders disobeyed, Alexius,” Kai mutters as starts towards the carafe of wine.

“You never used to disobey orders either,” Alex retorts with a scoff.

“I hope you realize in spite of our age and experience differences, I do outrank you,” Kai says, pouring himself a cup of wine. “You wouldn’t want to waltz into my own home and disrespect me like this, would you? Your sister would be very disappointed if she hears about your insolence.”

“My sister would be even more disappointed if she finds out how you whored your way into her brother’s bed and then married her, all for power. Your threats sound weak now,” Alex scoffs and releases Sehun’s waist. “Nevertheless, I’m impressed about how concerned you are with your little pet. What makes him so special, I wonder… You’ve always valued the rarity in certain treasures.” He gently draws the back of his fingers along the scar on Sehun’s cheek and Kai’s eyes narrow.

“I wasn’t threatening you,” Kai sighs as he downs the wine and hurls the winecup across the chamber. “My threats do not usually involve… words.”

Sehun swallows, casting his mind back to the time he was scourged with a bullwhip.

“Why an enslaved Slayer for a consort?” Kai asks coyly, looking more than half drunk now, as he edges closer to Alex.

Alex smirks. Sehun freezes when he raises a hand to Kai’s face. Alex carefully, but firmly wraps his hand around Kai’s neck, thumb pressed to the other side of Kai’s jaw. Kai does not retaliate. “Because I believe one of the common things we share is our interest in the rarity in certain treasures,” Alex says in a gravelly voice, eyes boring into Kai’s.

Kai’s lips then stretch into a faint, drunken smile. “Let… him… go,” he says again, hand fisting around Alex’s wrist before he yanks the hand off his neck. Alex then grabs hold of Kai’s hand and examines the black star on his wrist.

“I remember you telling me about how it had hurt when you got this,” he says. “You fought wars but couldn’t handle a little pain from a tattoo. I miss that vulnerable you greatly.” He exhales a long, heavy breath and brings Kai’s wrist to his lips to press a kiss on the star. Kai doesn’t so much as flinch.

“You and I have a lot to talk about,” Kai says, taking his hand back.

Alex arches an eyebrow and with an easy, smug smile, he nods. “The heat of your skin and your dilated pupils wouldn’t help you much with your talking, but very well. I will let your pet go for tonight.” He looks at Sehun and winks.

Then Kai turns to Sehun and pins him with a black look, tacitly ordering him to leave. Sehun bows his head at Alex before starting towards the doors.

When he is in the hallway, the guards look at him with scrutiny but they do not try to stop him. Sehun then realizes that, for the first time, he is free to roam the castle. He takes a cautious, hesitant step and waits to see if the guards interfere. But they share odd glances with each other and a few whispers, but do nothing to stop Sehun.

Licking his lips, Sehun wends his way to the stairs. He pauses at the top of it and smiles endearingly at the memory of his mother chiding him, telling him to not to run down the stairs. Kai used to warn him that a chipped tooth would not look good on him. How about a disfigured face, then?

He sighs to himself and proceeds downstairs. A few stares and whispers chase him when he walks past the servants. They are all young, he notices. Kai must either fire them as often as he hires them or he kills them. Given his hideous disposition, the latter sounds very likely.

He eventually finds himself on the threshold of the kitchen. For the first time in forever, he isn’t hungry but he is greatly unnerved by the aromatic scent of roasted wormwood. He enters the kitchen and the servants gasp before they retreat to the corner of the kitchen, cowering in terror. Sehun is almost tempted to roll his eyes. They are serving a real monster and _he_ is the one they fear?

“You,” the cook rasps, eyes bulging out, with a ladle in his hand.

Sehun tries to muster a small smile. “Is that wormwood roasted pork?” he inquires.

The cook looks back at the meat and nods, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “I… didn’t know His Highness allowed you to walk free,” he says.

“He didn’t,” Sehun mutters. “But he is… engaged in a matter more important than me for once, I’m convinced.” He isn’t sure how much more important the _matter_ is. And he worries for Alex’s safety, despite not really being all too fond of the man. However, the chances of Kai harming him under the Six Irons’ noses without a proper weapon is improbable.

“What can I… help you with, then?” the cook asks uncomfortably.

“Nothing,” Sehun says with a sigh. “I remember you mentioning that… you knew the King since was a just a child. How could you still serve him after seeing all this cruelty he exercises on a daily basis?”

The cook looks flustered for a moment as he glances around at the servants staring at him. “My loyalty does not waver. You best be on your way before I call the guards,” the man says.

Running a hand through his hair, Sehun turns on his heel and proceeds to wander along the hallways. He occasionally looks up at the copious amounts of portraits on the walls and realizes that he doesn’t recognize any of his ancestors. He then stops in his tracks to slump back against a wall and huff out a breath.

Even if he becomes the King of Havegnia, what then? Would the people accept him? A disfigured creature like him? An inexperienced runaway Prince? Havegnia thrives under Kai’s rule. The people are happy, prosperous with plenty. The last thing they need as disorder in the monarchy. Will the people trust Sehun? Alexius is certain the Triyanian King would side with Kai, regardless of the bastard’s misdeeds and deviltry. Sehun realizes that he does not even want the throne. He just wants revenge, he wants to avenge his family. And Kai’s death will not suffice.

He needs to pay. For everything that he has done. And death is the easy way out, the simplest form of punishment for a demon like him.

Sehun eventually finds his way back to Kai’s bedchamber. He isn’t sure where else he’d be welcome. He looks at Kai’s bed. It is made, covered in dark red silks and feathery eiderdowns. Sehun can’t help himself as he collapses on top of them and clenches his eyes. He tries to stop thinking about Alexius and Kai as he drifts off. Again, for the first time in a long time, he sleeps soundly and deeply, but not all too peacefully.

The bed smells like Kai’s skin. It has him recalling the heat of Kai’s mouth on his skin, the wetness of his tongue on the most sensitive spots of Sehun’s body…

~*~

_He has run far enough he thinks. He is lost, he is starved, and he is worn out. He drags himself towards the growing thick pall of smoke at the foot of the hill on his last legs. He has cried enough. He doesn’t believe he has anymore tears to shed. He has cried for his mother, he has cried for his father, and he has cried for his brother. Mother, he isn’t sure if she is safe, if he’ll ever see her again. He is lost, how will she find him? Father, he saw him dead in a pool of blood. Brother, he saw him holding the weapon that had killed their father. He cried for them all._

_Most of all, he cried for himself, his rumbling stomach, his blistered feet, and his sore shoulders._

_When he reaches the cabin, he lifts a small fist and knocks on the door. It takes a moment for it to open. But when it does, he breaks into a loud sob and collapses into the large, old man’s arms._

_“My, my, who are you, little boy?” the man asks._

_Sehun looks up at the tall man through his tears and whimpers, “Please, give me some water, sir.”_

_The man looks at him warily. “Are you lost?”_

_Sehun nods his head shakily. He isn’t sure where he should even go to. “Please,” he whispers._

_“Come in,” the man says and ushers Sehun into his well-furnished cabin. “I usually don’t host travellers but you’re a child…”_

_He lets Sehun sit on his chair and offers him a cup of water along with a bowl of pottage. It has a horrid taste but Sehun is in no state to be choosy. He eats up every last bit of the pottage and thanks the man generously._

_“Who are you, boy?” the man inquires, mustering Sehun’s clothes and gold bracelets._

_“I’m the Prince,” Sehun says._

_The man scoffs first before he breaks into a laugh. “Of course, you are.” He leans over and fingers the gold chain around Sehun’s neck. “Who are your parents? Where are they?”_

_Sehun slaps the man’s hand off his chain and scowls at him. “My parents are the King and Queen of Havegnia!”_

_The man is now glaring. “Look. Until you tell me who you are and where I can find your parents, you cannot leave. You owe me now.”_

_Sehun shoots up to his feet. “For what?! That unpalatable chicken poo?!”_

_The man grabs Sehun’s ear and twists it. “What a mouth you have on you!”_

~*~

Sehun wakes up to the sound of the guards rapping the bedside table with their knuckles. He squints at the sunlight and then at the glowering guards.

One of them clears his throat. “His Majesty has summoned you to terrace,” he says.

Sehun sits up and rubs his eyes on the hilt of his palms. The servants in the bedchamber are ready to give him a bath, too. “His Majesty, as in your King?” he asks the guard.

“The King, yes,” the guard mutters.

Sehun climbs out of the bed and enters the bathing chamber. He takes his time with the bath and getting dressed. Surprisingly, he is allowed a pair of breeches. When he is ready, he is escorted to the open terrace.

The sun is still climbing its way up the bright, almost cloudless sky. The terrace is vast and railed. Sehun remembers his mother spending some of her nights up here to stargaze. Up here, no one could bother her. From up here, everything down there seems nugatory and insignificant.

In the middle of the terrace, Kai stands, with a complacent grin on his face and a pair of swords in his hands. He is bathed in sweat, his damp hair sticking to his forehead, his shirt clinging onto his sinewy body like a second skin.

“Where is Prince Alexius?” Sehun asks and he sees Kai’s smile faltering instantly.

“If you’re asking if I’ve killed him, no, I haven’t,” he says nonchalantly. Flipping the sword in his hand, he tosses it over to Sehun, who catches it almost effortlessly. He then looks up at Kai and gapes at him. “Let’s see if you’ve lost your touch, shall we, Slayer?” he says and brandishes his sword.

Sehun looks down at the grip of the longsword and swallows. What is Kai doing? Just as he tightens his hand around the grip, he is caught off-guard by Kai’s first assault but he manages to block the blow with his blade before Kai’s ebony-black sword could strike his skull.

“Did you like it then?” Kai pants, swinging his sword for another attack. Sehun dodges the strike and Kai charges again. This time, Sehun blocks the blade and rams his head against Kai’s, sending Kai staggering a step back. When he recovers from the unexpected attack, Kai looks up at him and smirks.

“Did I like what?” Sehun huffs with a heaving chest, his own forehead throbbing. He grips the sword with both hands as Kai lunges at him. Their blades clash and clatters, and Sehun is left out of breath by the fifth strike. Kai, on the other hand, looks full of zest as always and he pulls no punches when he launches his sword at Sehun once more.

“Having Alexius all over you,” Kai spits, holding his sword aloft. He is waiting for Sehun to initiate his first attack. Sehun pleases him this time and strikes Kai’s sword with every ounce of strength that he harbours. But it works in Kai’s favour when Kai disarms Sehun, lobbing the sword to the air before he catches it with his free hand. Then crossing the blades, he holds it to Sehun’s neck, closing the distance between them. “But you’d do well to remember that you’re _my_ bitch, is that clear?”

Sehun’s throat tightens. Now unarmed, he glares into Kai’s eyes, gnashing his teeth. His eyes quickly flit to the railing of the terrace at his right side and the railing at Kai’s back, which Kai is standing dangerously close to. Below, nothing but mounts of rock and death await.

Sehun clenches his fist, retreats a quick step before springing off the floor. Using the railing’s support, he strikes at Kai’s chest with his feet and propels him over the railing of the terrace. Losing his grip on the swords as well as his footing, Kai is knocked over the railing.

For a moment, the world stops spinning around Sehun as Kai grabs onto the railing, hanging towards his death. He grunts, struggling to get a tighter grip on the slippery grill. A moment later, Sehun leans over the railing and secures a hand around Kai’s forearm and hauls him up.

“Yes… Master,” Sehun says once Kai has climbed over the railing and is kneeling on the floor, sobbing for air with his head hung. Sehun slides his fingers into Kai’s hair and tugs at it to force Kai’s head up. Kai’s eyes are filled with horror but he is still scowling like the stubborn bastard he is. Sehun tightens his fingers around the strands of Kai’s hair and watches Kai wince in utter shock for a length. “Remember you telling me this? _Some things are worse than death_. _Death would be too simple._ ” He then releases Kai’s hair, shoving it away. “You’d do well to remember that you lived on what’s mine before this and you are living at my mercy now, too, Kai. You are a nobody. You were born as a nobody and you better be fucking assured that you will die as a nobody.”

 

 


	27. Chapter Twenty-Five

_The storm does not yield to the night. Mighty thunders continue to roar, breaking every drop of silence there is. The ground quakes, Sehun thinks so does his bed. Sleep won’t come to him as he sits on his bed, cocooned in the eiderdowns, praying to ward off the storm and darkness. He shivers. He wants to sleep in his mother’s arms, but she had strictly ordered him to not disrupt her peace tonight. Sehun hates his chambers passionately. They are too big for someone as small as him. And the bloody chambermaids had put out the lanterns. It is too dark. He sees demons and monsters creeping from every corner of his bedchamber._

_His breathing quickens. He wonders if his brother would show up to keep him company tonight. Kai usually does when there is a storm. But Sehun hasn’t seen his brother all day. To calm himself, Sehun reaches out for the bunch of wilting daffodils on the bedside table. He had plucked them earlier today when he went for a ride with his caretaker._

_Tia had given him flowers the last time she visited, but Sehun had scoffed at her saying that he was a man and that he didn’t like flowers. Tia cried and called him a mean boy. Sehun likes being mean to her. But he doesn’t like seeing her cry or Kai disappointed in him. Kai had chided him and told him to treat her well. So, Sehun had picked up the flowers Tia had left on the ground and brought them to his rooms. He decided then that he rather likes flowers and he likes that Tia had plucked them especially for him. Kai would like them too if Sehun plucked them for him._

_He had wanted to bring those daffodils to his brother. But he hasn’t seen Kai since yesterday. Perhaps, this might be a good time to find him. Shoving the eiderdowns out of his way, Sehun jumps off the bed and quickly runs to the door. He struggles for a moment to reach the doorknob, so he knocks on the door instead. The guard opens it for him and he hurriedly bolts out of the chamber._

_“Your Royal Highness,” the guard rasps._

_“I’ll be right back!” Sehun coos at him, holding up the bunch of daffodils in his hand. “I want to give my brother these before they wilt.”_

_The guard does not stop him as Sehun starts racing towards his brother’s chambers. If his mother sees him now, she would lose it undoubtedly. Sehun would never hear the last of him running through the hallways in his sleepwear._

_When he reaches Kai’s unguarded chambers, he climbs onto a flowerpot to reach the doorknob. He would surprise his brother. Kai might be asleep but that’s all right. Sehun could use this opportunity to slip into Kai’s bed and sleep with him, feeling entirely protected from the storm and monsters. He twists the doorknob and pushes the door open before sliding into the chamber._

_He freezes in his spot with his heart pounding in his mouth when he finds his brother kneeling on the floor by the windows, sobbing breathlessly into his hands. Not even the cacophony of the storm could muffle Kai’s sobs._

_Sehun does not turn a hair. It takes him a moment to realize that he has dropped the daffodils to the floor. He has never seen his brother cry. He has never seen his brother so… vulnerable. Sehun’s blood runs cold. He doesn’t know what to do. He feels warm tears roll down his own cheeks. At length, he notices the torn sleeve of Kai’s tunic and the bruise on his forearm._

_He wants to stop it. He wants Kai to stop crying. This is weakening. Kai isn’t supposed to be weak. He is a strong prince. He is so tall. He is so strong. Father says men shouldn’t cry. Sehun takes a hesitant step forward. His chest hurts. As he edges closer, his gaze surveys over the purplish red, long marks on Kai’s neck and arms._

_“Kai?” Sehun calls in the smallest voice as he kneels at his brother’s side._

_Kai turns to him sharply and gapes at him before hastily wiping his cheeks and eyes. “What are you doing here, Sehun?! Go to bed!” he yaps and Sehun shudders. He could only see malice and darkness in Kai’s eyes in that instant. Like a murderer. Like the devil._

_“K-Kai…”_

_Kai growls at him. “Go away, Sehun!”_

_Sehun snivels and wipes his own cheeks. “You’re… crying,” he whispers shakily and holds a hand out to his brother’s face. He cups Kai’s cheek and wipes a tear from Kai’s cheek._

_Kai slaps his hand away. “I said go away!” he shouts and Sehun gasps in horror. Kai then grabs Sehun’s arm and yanks him up to his feet. “How many times must I tell you to not to come to my quarters?!”_

_Sehun finally notices the bruise on a corner of Kai’s mouth. Somebody hit him. “I’m sorry,” Sehun weeps but refuses to leave. He lunges at Kai and wraps his arms around his brother’s waist, burying his face in Kai’s stomach. “Please, don’t cry! Please!”_

_Kai halts in his tracks. He does not push Sehun away._

_“Be strong,” Sehun mewls, sobbing into his brother’s tunic. “Kai, you are strong.”_

_The rain is untameable. It continues to pour as lightnings split the night sky in half. Kai slowly curls his arms around Sehun’s shoulders. “I am… strong,” Kai whispers a moment later. “I will be… stronger.”_

_Sehun pulls back and looks up at his brother. He raises his hands and Kai lifts him up. Then hugging Kai’s neck, Sehun rests his head on his brother’s shoulder. “I will grow up fast, Kai. I will protect you.”_

_Kai laughs, his voice thick and hoarse. “You’re here because you’re afraid of the storm, aren’t you?”_

_Sehun does not reply. He lets his brother carry him to the bed. “Can I sleep here tonight?”_

_“Yes,” Kai mutters as he tucks Sehun in before climbing into the bed. Something is wrong tonight, Sehun thinks as he curls up against his brother. He does not feel Kai’s usual warmth. He has seen Kai when he’s angry. But this is something else. He’s hurt and he’s… resentful. It’s cold._

_“Why were you crying?” Sehun asks. “Did somebody… hurt you?” He runs a finger over the bruise on Kai’s arm._

_Kai recoils and pulls his arm away. “No. Go to sleep.”_

_“What are these bruises? Where did you get them from?”_

_“I was… fencing with someone.”_

_“Oh.” A pause. “Did you lose? It’s okay. You will win next time.”_

_Kai lets out a chuckle. Then in a lifeless, vivid voice, he says, “Yes, I will.”_

~*~

Sehun does not look away from his reflection on the surface of the water in the pool. He really is a monster, isn’t he? On the outside, at least. He would always look like a monster. A prince. But a monster. He supposes he owes _thanks_ to the one person he used to dearly love more than his own mother, more than himself.

Even if he does defeat Kai in the end, would his people accept a monster like him as their King? They aren’t even his people. They are Kai’s people. It doesn’t matter. Kai is the real monster here. He needs to be brought down.

The Nymph said that Kai’s demise will follow Sehun’s. It can also be interpreted as Kai’s death is only inevitable if Sehun dies. That is a lot to digest. Isn’t that how much Sehun had thirsted for Kai’s death? That he had been willing to sacrifice everything? His life, his beauty, his prerogatives. He still is. He just couldn’t do it without an answer. He needs to know the truth. All of it.

He dips his fingers into the water and brings them to his face. Drawing his fingers along the horrid scars, he clenches his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he was a young kid, he must have had dreams. Ambitions. For a Crown Prince, he is certain he must have had most of his life and future decided _for_ him. In spite of that, has he had any dreams? He thinks his memories are selective now. He only remembers the ones he would cherish. As much as the bad ones fuel his thirst for vengeance, he fights them, not wanting to recollect them.

What could have happened if there hadn’t been such a twist in the events? What if everything had gone according to plan? His father would have been alive. Sehun would have been at his side as the Crown Prince. Eventually, he would have been crowned King. He would have had Kai at his side as his brother, his confidant, the commander of the Havegnian Army.

His lover.

Sehun shudders at the thought. That never would have happened. Would their love for each other deepen to such an immoral, godless depth? He wants to find out.

Kai never loved him. It was all just an act.

It could not all be just an act.

Sehun draws his wet digits down to his neck and caresses the gold collar, letting out a shaky breath as he wonders how things would have unfolded for him and Kai if none of this horror had occurred, if Kai had remained the man Sehun had so irrevocably loved. Would the affection had bloomed into something more carnal and licentious as they grow older? Would Kai have touched Sehun with such inappropriate intent had they been the way they were? Would they have fallen in love? The sort of love one could never be brought into the light of the day and had to be hidden away in the dark until it ruins them both?

What is he thinking…

Sehun’s eyes fly open. He realizes his hand had travelled further down his body and is now ghosting over his crotch underwater. “Bastard,” he spits under his breath, retrieving his hand. Kai had corrupted him.

He knows that whatever his dreams were when he was younger, they would have involved Kai. Just not in such an obscene arena.

He climbs out of the pool and takes the robe from the servant. “I can dress myself,” he tells the servants.

“We… have orders,” one of them says timidly, not raising her eyes to look at Sehun’s disfigured face. “The King wishes to have your company this evening.”

“You can tell him to go to hell,” Sehun says and the servant purses her lips worriedly. He will not be his pet for long. He is about to become the Triyanian Prince’s consort. Tia was right. It is the beginning of Kai’s downfall.

He stops when he finds Diarmid in the bedchamber. “Ah, Your Maje—”

Sehun beckons him to shut up, eyeing the servants. Diarmid rolls his eyes and intimidates the servants into leaving immediately. Once they are alone, the captain of the Six Irons holds out some folded clothes to Sehun.

“Courtesy of the Six Irons,” the man says.

Sehun examines the raiment. He then looks up at Diarmid and smiles. “Thank you.”

“Put them on. Tonight, you’re one of us.”

Sehun hasn’t had the chance to get to know Diarmid, though he knows that Alexius had ordered Diarmid to stay guard outside the chamber that was now Sehun’s. However, he has noticed the way Diarmid looks at Tia.

As he dresses himself in the shirt and pants, which resembled the black shirt and black pants the members of Alexius’ band wore, Diarmid turns away, keeping his eyes to himself.

“What do you mean I’m one of you tonight?” Sehun asks, carding his hands through his damp hair.

Diarmid winks. The doors spring open and the rest of the Six Irons step in, excluding Alexius. Behind them, Tia follows.

“Sehun,” she rasps and throws her arms around him. Pulling back, she smiles. “You finally smell like a human again.”

Sehun grimaces. He then smiles. “I bathed.”

“I can see that.” Tia draws her hands down his chest, smoothening the shirt. She then looks up at his face and smiles once more, but pitifully this time. Her sympathy is excruciating. Sehun hates it. That’s what everyone does now. They either look at him with disgust, fear, or sympathy. All but Kai.

“Where is Alexius? I haven’t seen him since last night,” says Sehun worriedly.

“He is fine,” Tia reassures him. “He is working. He is meeting some of the Havegnian ministers today to look through some issues with the treasury. Our father has some errands he needs my brother to run here. So, that might keep Kai busy for the rest of the day.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Here,” Tia says, pressing a vial of red in his hand. Sehun blinks blankly. “It’s an elixir that induces sleep.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Try to slip some of this into Kai’s wine when he summons you later,” Tia says. “And make sure that he drinks it. I could not lace his food or drink, the servants are too loyal to him… They’re too afraid. And he would never drink anything _I_ give him, fearing that I might poison him.”

Sehun arches his eyebrow. “Why must I do this?”

“Because you are sneaking out of the castle tonight. He will be suspicious if he knew you’re leaving, even with Alex’s orders. He would have you followed. He can’t find out where you’re going.”

“Where _am_ I going?”

 “Do you remember when you said there was a low-level guard who trained Kai when he was younger?”

Sehun nods.

Tia breathes out heavily. “I’ve asked around and I have found a man called Elto who said he knew the guard who trained ‘the bastard Prince’ when he was a child.”

Sehun’s ears ring. “What?”

“Oddly enough, he also said that the guard’s late wife had midwifed your mother during her first childbirth. She apparently died from an assassination just days after that.”

His clenched his hands. “That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

“I have discovered where the guard now lives. Unfortunately, it is not a place I can visit, and I could not summon him here without Kai knowing about it. You will meet Elto outside. Diarmid and the rest will accompany you. But you must be back before sunrise when the drowsing elixir would wear off. I think you might get some answers, Sehun.”

Sehun’s breathing shallows. “Kai could never know about this. He wouldn’t spare the guard, _or_ Elto for that matter, if knew he had left some traces unwiped.”

“Which is why he should not get suspicious,” Tia says.

“Why don’t you just poison him with something deadly and we can all be over with this?” Diarmid scoffs.

“He’s a king,” Tia says. “Killing him will not do the kingdom any good if there isn’t a successor. It will be vulnerable to its enemies and before you know it, it will crumble.”

Sehun recalls the Nymph’s prophecy. Havegnia will fall with Sehun and Kai. There will be no successor. Tia, even as a Queen Regnant, would not be able to defend herself and the kingdom from the enemies. She is right. Havegnia would fall in a matter of a moment.

Diarmid shrugs. “Worth a try.”

“No,” Sehun says. Besides, he knows Kai cannot be killed until Sehun is dead. “I’ll do it,” he says, gripping the vial.

~*~

Sehun paces the bedchamber restlessly. He is waiting for a guard to show up and tell him that he’s been summoned. But he never comes. Is Kai anxious to meet Sehun’s eyes after what happened in the morning? Or is Alexius still keeping him busy?

If the guard Kai trained with exists, then was Felix saying the truth? Was… Kai saying the truth?

Growing increasingly agitated, he walks out of the chamber. The hallway is empty. Kai really has left him unguarded. Sehun supposes that’s what being the Triyanian Crown Prince’s prospective consort entails. He just needs the collar around his neck removed and he will truly be free from Kai’s clutches.

He wends his way to Kai’s chambers as midnight approaches. When he reaches Kai’s chambers, he hesitates for a brief moment before he enters. He had Kai on his knees before him today. Kai will never forget that.

The chambers are dark with candleflame flickering in the corners. Sehun glances around, venturing into the bedchamber. It is empty. He then notices the candlelight looming from the bathing chamber. The wine chalice was empty and the winecup was missing on the tray.

Sehun uncaps the vial and licks his lips. This might not be a foolproof plan, but it is a plan nonetheless.

Sucking in a breath, he sips the elixir and tosses the vial away. Without swallowing, he saunters into the bathing chamber and finds Kai relaxing in the pool, leaning back against the edge with a winecup in his hand.

A small smirk quirks up a corner of Kai’s lips, though he does not turn to look at Sehun.

“I thought when you told me to go to hell, you’d be spending the night with your sudden betrothed,” Kai says, leaning his head back. Sehun stares at Kai’s exposed neck. He wants to simultaneously slit that throat and kiss it. Sehun shakes that thought away. Neither would work in his favour right now.

He walks over to Kai and kneels behind him.

“On your mercy,” Kai exhales in a whisper, smirking without looking back at Sehun. “It’s intoxicating, isn’t it? The sort of courage and nerve that becomes you when you’re around him. Alexius is a rare gem. But a dumb one.” He chuckles. “On your mercy,” he repeats. “What a cruel boy you are.”

Sehun slides his fingers into Kai’s hair at the back of his head then. Kai does not retaliate when Sehun grips his hair and yanks it back to arch his neck. Kai finally meets his eyes as Sehun bows his head. His dark eyes are as cold as ever. Sehun retrieves the winecup from Kai’s hand and sips a few drops of wine before he leans down. Parting his lips, he lets the wine, laced with the elixir, drip into Kai’s mouth.

Kai swallows as he raises a hand to cup the back of Sehun’s neck. Sehun catches his wrist and yanks it away. Still crushing Kai’s wrist in his hand, Sehun spits the last drop of the wine into Kai’s mouth before he bows his head lower. Kai’s breathing quickens as Sehun lightly brushes his upper lip against Kai’s bottom lip. Then sinking his teeth into Kai’s lip, he bites into it and gently tugs at it. Kai pants as though he is fighting for breath.

Releasing the bruising lip, Sehun pulls away and lets go of Kai’s hair. “I can be crueller,” Sehun mutters and rises to his feet. Kai licks his swollen bottom lip and smirks.

Then climbing out of the pool, Kai musters Sehun from head to toe. His eyes fall on Sehun’s collar and he smiles. Sehun, on the other hand, struggles to keep his eyes to himself. “How does it feel to defeat me for the first time?” he asks, ambling into the bedchamber after pulling his robe on.

Sehun follows. That had been easier than he thought. Luck must be on his side.

Kai stands at the foot of the bed with his head falling heavier with each heartbeat. He looks up at Sehun with drowsy eyes. “Why don’t you show me how much crueller you can be?” Kai drawls. Sehun closes the distance between them.

“I’m just starting to,” he whispers, bringing a hand to Kai’s heaving chest. He digs his fingernails into the skin and slowly drags them down Kai’s sternum, leaving bright red lines behind. Kai does not react. He simply stares Sehun down, lips parted and panting softly for air.

“Don’t leave again,” Kai then says in a low murmur.

Sehun pauses with his fingers prodding at the top of Kai’s abdomen.

“I will break your legs… if you did,” Kai adds drowsily as his eyelids shut close.

Sehun splays his fingers on the firm muscles of Kai’s abdomen and shoves him back. As Kai falls back on the bed, Sehun turns on his heel and starts towards the door, feeling a little lightheaded himself. He shakes his head and glances back at Kai, who has gone out like a light.

_Don’t leave again._

Sehun exits the chamber and finds the Six Irons crowding the hallway. “Oh, there you are,” Diarmid gasps. “So, did you do it?”

Sehun nods.

Diarmid looks surprised. “Wow. I thought he would be tougher than that. Well, let’s go. Tia is waiting for us down in the dungeons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once more guys, for all the love and support, comments and kudos! Thank you for reading! <3


	28. Chapter Twenty-Six

“Sehun,” Tia rasps when he and the Six Irons meet her in the dungeons. “Quick. The oubliette will lead you out.”

Sehun glances at the ladder leading up to the trapdoor. His throat tightens. This is where he last saw his mother before they parted.

“Did you do it?” Tia asks and Sehun nods wearily.

“Are you certain he will not find out?” he asks.

Tia frowns as the light from the lantern flickers in her dark eyes. “So long you return before it’s too late,” she says, taking Sehun’s hand.

“We should get moving, then,” Diarmid harrumphs and shoves past Sehun.

“Diarmid,” Tia calls. “You will do well to remember that he is the rightful King of Havegnia and I entrust his safety in your hands.”

Diarmid’s eyebrows furrow.

“I am capable of looking after myself, Tia,” Sehun reassures her and gives her hand a light squeeze. “Stay by Alexius’ side in case Kai finds out.”

Tia nods and reaches up to peck Sehun on the cheek. “Be safe.”

Sehun follows Diarmid and the others up the ladder. The cold night air slaps against his face when he surfaces from the trapdoor and he sucks in a sharp breath. “It has been a while,” he mutters to himself, staring into the dark.

“If you are done being nostalgic, we ought to move our asses,” Diarmid says, jerking his chin towards the woods. “It’s going to be a long walk.”

Sehun starts to move towards the direction of the woods when he feels a presence at his back. With his stomach clenching, he spins around and a hand springs up to clutch at the scrawny man’s neck. The stranger’s eyes bulge out as he raises his hands in defeat.

“Whoa!” one of the Six Irons gasps.

“Easy,” Diarmid says. “He’s Elto. He’s our guide.”

Sehun exhales heavily and retrieves his hand. “Sorry. I’m not used to people… jumping me,” he says as Elto rubs his neck.

Elto pauses to examine Sehun’s face under the moonlight. Grimacing, he beckons at the woods. “This way,” he says in a hoarse, timid voice and leads the way.

~*~

The night wears on. Moonlight sets their path alight in the dense forest. Sehun finally manages to learn the names of the Six Irons. Jax, Lukas, Olivar, Kali, Tei, and Diarmid. Olivar and Lukas are brothers. He also learns that as serious as they can all get, they are just as jocular and ludic. Diarmid has to be the most serious of them.

“So, you have agreed to marry Alex after all, huh?” Kali remarks, nudging an elbow into Sehun’s arm.

“Respect, Kal,” Tei says. “He’s a prince.”

“Technically, he should be _king_ ,” says Olivar.

“Alex is out of his mind,” Diarmid scoffs.

Sehun smirks at Diarmid. “So, what is it with you and Tia?”

Diarmid coughs as though he’s been choked. He then stares Sehun down threateningly.

Olivar sneers. “He is in love with her!”

“Shut up!” Diarmid spits, slapping the back of Olivar’s head.

“Oli’s right,” Jax adds. “Diarmid’s been in love with the Princess for as long as we can all remember.”

“Does she know?” Sehun asks.

“Not a clue,” Kali says with a shrug. “Doesn’t matter, anyway. She wouldn’t go for a prince’s companion, would she?”

“You don’t know her all that well, then.”

“Enough of this discussion,” Diarmid cuts in.

“We’re here,” Elto says, coming to halt. He points at the derelict cottage ahead. “I must leave now.”

Diarmid tosses Elto a pouch of coins. “Don’t breathe a word about this to anyone.”

Elto bows and takes his leave.

“That’s eerie,” Lukas comments, his face twisted with distress.

“Lukas, Olivar, Kali, Jax, wait out here,” Diarmid orders. “Tei, you’re coming with us.”

Sehun hesitates. Diarmid pins him with a sceptical look. “I might not be the best candidate to greet the man first,” Sehun says.

“He will not talk unless you tell him who you are,” Diarmid replies sternly.

Swallowing hard, Sehun advances forward and knocks on the wooden door. A moment later, it creaks open. Through the narrow gap comes a low, gruff voice.

“Who are you?” he demands. “What do you want?”

“We want to speak with you,” Sehun says.

“Leave,” he spits and starts to close the door. Diarmid blocks him.

“Like he said, we need to speak with you,” Diarmid says. “I’m sure you don’t want to turn this into a bloody scene.”

“Did _he_ send you?” the man asks.

Diarmid and Sehun exchange a look. “Who do you mean?” Sehun asks.

The man is quiet.

Sehun sighs. “You know something about the King, don’t you? We’ve come because we know that you do. We have come seeking answers and your help. If you would just trust me—”

“Why would I trust _you_?!” the man yaps.

Sehun licks his lips. “Because I am King Daedalus’ only son.”

The door opens. An old man appears, bearing a dagger. His eyes are wide with surprise as he gawks stupidly at Sehun. “It cannot be,” he lets out in a whisper, surveying Sehun’s face. “You have… returned.”

“Not quite,” Sehun mutters.

The old man nods shakily and holds the door open. As soon as Sehun has entered, the man stands in the way of Diarmid.

“It’s all right. Wait outside,” Sehun tells Diarmid, who scowls but does not argue.

Closing the door, the retired guard turns to meet Sehun’s eyes in the dark. “The Sibyl was right,” the man says.

“What Sibyl?” Sehun asks.

“Sit, sit, Your Highness,” the man blurts out, pointing at the wooden chair as he lights a candle. Sehun perches on the chair and looks around the dusty cottage. “Th-The Sibyl,” the man stutters as he fumbles at the bookshelf that has collected cobwebs and dust. “The darkest of soothsayers. The Q-Queen had one of her own.”

He withdraws a book from the shelf and blows the dust off it before wiping the cover.

“What are you talking about?” Sehun asks.

“I have written them down,” the man drawls. “Old age. I forget. But written things can’t easily be lost.” He flips through the pages as he paces the room.

Sehun purses his lips, clenching his fists as he watches the half-senile man walk in circles. “I must ask you. Did you indeed train Kai with Felix when they were younger?”

The man looks up from the book and blinks. At length, he nods his head shakily. “Oh, yes. Felix, a very nice boy. He was a son of my friend. They would come visit and I’d teach them a thing or two. A very… fond memory. Until I… I… learned that…” he trails off.

“What?” Sehun asks with impatience bubbling in his chest.

The man’s face wilts with misery. “My dear Martha…” he sighs and sinks in a chair, frowning sadly at the book. “It wasn’t until many years after her death had I found her journal.”

Sehun glances at the book on the man’s lap. “Is that…”

The man nods tiredly. “Can I get you some tea? How rude of me! The Crown Prince of Havegnia is in my home!”

Sehun catches the man’s shoulder before he could rise to his feet. “I’d rather you tell me the truth,” he says. “I hear that your wife was killed. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it has been many years,” the man says, rubbing his wrinkled forehead. “Many… years.”

Sehun looks down at the book once more. “What’s… written in it?”

The man takes a moment before answering. “Enough,” he says. “They called her a madwoman and me a madman for believing what she has written in this. When I found out, I tried telling someone. Nobody listened. I was driven out of job and I stayed away.”

“What do you know?” Sehun asks with his heart pounding.

The old man draws his fingers along the tattered pages of the journal. “The Sibyl came with a divination and a warning during the Queen’s first childbirth.”

“My mother’s?”

The man does not look up. He stares vacantly at the flickering candleflame with limpid eyes. “My Martha was there, midwifing the Queen, who was to give birth to two bastard sons. Twins. The Sibyl warned the Queen that one of them bore an evil spirit, a bloodthirsty _Ka_. It’s cursed from its previous birth. The firstborn shall be killed, she said. If he lived, it was said that destruction will come to everyone in various forms.”

~*~

_I wiped the sweat beads collected on the Queen’s forehead. “A little longer,” I told her, holding her hand._

_Her Majesty’s breathing shallowed. I ordered the other midwives to open the windows. The night’s breeze was sharp and ruthless, auguring the arrival of something wicked._

_The doors of the chambers opened and the Sibyl, clad in her black robe with hair as dark as the feathers of a raven and eyes as cold as the snow stuck to the ground, sauntered in with grace and thirst for deviltry._

_The Queen’s chapped, pale lips stretched into an inviting smile. The Sibyl’s intimated a grim, wilful grin._

_I bowed and stepped aside as the Sibyl approached Her Majesty. She placed her hand on the Queen’s forehead and took a breath._

_“I warned you before,” said the Sibyl in a steady but grave tone._

_The Queen’s eyebrows knotted in a painful frown as she fought for breath. “Please,” she begged._

_“This is the divination I have for you,” the Sibyl said. “I sense nothing but evilness within you. Or rather… within one of the sons you are about to bring into this wretched world. Your firstborn has a dastardly fate. His_ Ka _is one with the demons’. His curse will befall you too if you let him live.”_

_“No,” the Queen cried. She gripped at the mattress and screamed. I ran to her side and helped her through the birth of her very first child._

_The Queen did not take her child in her hands. Instead, she accepted the dagger that was handed to her by the Sibyl._

~*~

“No,” Sehun exhales, clenching his eyes. “My mother never would have…” His throat feels tight and parched.

The man shudders. “That is not the full story,” he whispers.

~*~

_They shared a womb. They had both taken their first breaths. And yet, one had been unfortunate enough to be murdered by the hands of his own mother._

_As I took the infant to his grave, I mourned him. The Sibyl watched as I buried the corpse in one of the chambers as per Her Majesty’s orders. There was dread in the Sibyl’s face._

_“How could you do this?” I asked, unable to contain my disapproval._

_She looked at me with scorn. “I was wrong,” she said slowly._

_I was puzzled. “How so?”_

_The Sibyl glanced at the dead child’s grave. “His spirit is… stronger and… angrier than I thought.”_

_His life was snatched away from him. I hoped then that he would somehow redeem it._

~*~

Sehun does not dare open his eyes. He can feel the tears stinging behind his eyelids.

“And then one day,” the man adds. “the Sibyl paid a visit… It was when you were born and the King held a grand celebration for the entire Kingdom to attend. The Sibyl prophesied that you will be the demise of your… brothers.”

“ _Brothers?_ ”

“She also met… Prince Kai. I… overheard her talking to the Queen. She said that she saw more of the dead child in him than Kai himself.”

Sehun shoots up to his feet. “This can’t be true.”

The man sniggers. “Go on. Call me a madman. The mind can be easily infected. But once the heart and soul are poisoned, there is no going back.”

“You… You are telling me that…” Sehun swallows, panting hard. “this… evil spirit… this _Ka_ has possessed Kai?”

“I have sought priests for answers. Even warlocks. The Queen killed her firstborn while her other child was still in her womb. It is the equivalent of sacrificing the purest of blood. I can imagine how much angrier his _Ka_ would have gotten. Another chance at life snatched away from him…Then… the boy, Felix blabbered to me one day while training that Kai had told him all these crazy stories about how he is… living in the body of his brother and how he comes and goes… And that he said that soon… it will be forever.”

Sehun closes his eyes momentarily, focusing on his laborious breathing. “Even if all of this is true, it doesn’t make sense why he would do something like that.”

“The desire to live is stronger in some,” the man says. “He _wants_ to live and he will do anything to achieve what he wants.”

Sehun stares at the man. He opens his mouth to say something when he hears a barrage of screams outside.

“Diarmid!” he cries as he bursts out of the cottage and finds the Six Irons battling a group of Slayers, all covered in cowls and hoods.

Sehun springs into action and launches himself at one of the Slayers who swings his sabre towards Jax. Seizing the Slayer’s wrist, he twists the Slayer’s arm and plants a foot into the man’s abdomen before nailing him to the ground.

“There’re too many!” Diarmid shouts.

Sehun glances at Kali, who sprints between the trees as a group of Slayers chase him. Stealing a sabre from one of the fallen Slayers, Sehun bolts after Kali. He slashes the back of one Slayer, forcing him to fall back and confront Sehun.

Their chests heave as they stare at one another, brandishing the sabres. The Slayer lurches forward for a strike and though Sehun blocks it, it was at the expense of losing the grip on his sabre. Unarmed, Sehun throws a fist towards the Slayer, who dodges it effortlessly. Another Slayer emerges from the darkness of the forest and cuts the air just inches in front of Sehun. Running out of breath, he grapples an arm around a Slayer’s neck before an elbow is planted into his stomach, sending him staggering.

Looking back, he growls at one of the Slayers before he turns to face the other Slayer standing at his front. As the Slayer flourishes his sword, Sehun braces himself for a blow. That is when an ebony sword, glimmering with veins of glowing blood, strikes through the Slayer’s chest.

Sehun spares no moment as he yanks the sword out of the Slayer’s chest and spins around to draw it across the second Slayer’s neck. As they both collapse to the ground, Sehun grips the sword and looks up at Kai standing amidst the trees with sweat glistening on his face and soaking his shirt.

He walks over to Sehun and wrenches his sword out of Sehun’s hand. “Run,” he mutters and pivots before bolting. Sehun glances back at the commotion and the Slayers running towards his direction. He turns and charges after Kai.

They soon reach a lofty, large tree, under which they stop to catch their breaths. Once Sehun has made sure that they aren’t being tailed, he faces Kai breathlessly.

“What happened?” he asks.

Kai arches an eyebrow at him. “Well, they are _your_ kind,” he says offhandedly.

Sehun scowls. “They are Slayers. I’m a Vagabond Slayer.”

“See what happens when you try to tiptoe behind my back?”

Sehun falls silent for a moment. Tia said that the elixir would keep Kai asleep for hours. How is he standing _and_ wielding a sword like second to none? “What are you doing here?”

Kai does not answer immediately. Does he know why Sehun is here? “To find out what instigated you to sneak out to come here with Alex’s hounds.”

Sehun’s stomach churns. “And did you find out?”

Kai smirks. But the lopsided grin quickly dies as his hand flies up to grab Sehun’s neck before he slams Sehun against the tree and presses his body tightly against Sehun’s.

Sehun’s breathing seizes as Kai clasps a hand over his mouth.

“Shh,” Kai hisses. Sehun hears the leaves ruffle and freezes, trapped between the trunk of the tree and Kai’s burning, sweating body.

Sehun looks into Kai’s eyes and the sheen of moonlight in them. They stare back at Sehun’s eyes. Kai slowly lowers his hand from Sehun’s face but does not step away. Their chests heaved together.

Pity.

That is something Sehun has _never_ felt for Kai. But for the first time, he looks at his brother with commiseration.

Kai lowers his gaze to Sehun’s parted, panting lips. And Sehun lowers his to Kai’s lips.

“Kai…” Sehun breathes out, splaying his fingers on Kai’s chest. He feels Kai’s heart thump against his palm. Whose heart is it?

_“You… killed him?”_

_“Well, if it is any comfort to you, I did it with mercy. It was quick and almost painless. Right through his heart. After all, I did share a womb with him.”_

_“The mind can be easily infected. But once the heart and soul are poisoned, there is no going back.”_

Sehun’s hand unconsciously climbs up to clutch at the collar of Kai’s shirt. Kai’s eyes begin to narrow as he focuses on Sehun’s breath grazing his lips. He curls his fingers gently around Sehun’s neck, over the gold collar. Pressing a thumb under Sehun’s chin, he tilts Sehun’s head up.

Sehun leans in impulsively, eyes almost shutting. Kai’s hand tightens around his neck and as their lips almost brush, Kai smashes the back of Sehun’s head against the tree and nothingness bleeds into Sehun’s vision before everything blacks out following a sharp pain.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Seven

_The wind is as quiet as their breathing. Sehun tries not to make a single move. He has no desire to suffer his father’s wrath if he causes the doe to escape. He focuses his eyes on his father, whose fingers were impressively steady around the bowstring and the arrow vanes. Sehun wonders if his father would have chosen to become a hunter had he not been a king. The idea repulses Sehun. He does not want to be a hunter’s son. Hunters are smelly, crude, uncouth, and utterly tasteless. But like his father tells him, all kings must be good hunters, gallant warriors, clever tacticians, and a prophet of doom who must be wary of absolutely everything._

_Heart of a lion, will of an eagle, strength of a king._

_Sehun is sure that when he is King, he’d be just as powerful as his father, though there is no match for the man’s brilliance just yet._

_He stares at his father with reverence. He briefly then glances back to his brother, who is leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. Kai seems disinterested. He is a good hunter, too. He is also a gallant warrior, a clever tactician, and he is careful with absolutely everything. He is already a king, Sehun thinks. The thought makes him smile. He wants Kai to be a king. He’d make a great king._

_“Pay attention,” his father mouths to him inaudibly and Sehun nods his head. Smirking, the King then releases the arrow. Sehun almost gasps as the arrow launches from the bow with a force and speed his eyes fail to follow. Hastily looking to the doe, Sehun clasps a hand over his gaping mouth. The arrow has pierced her shoulder, rendering her immobile as she collapses to the forest floor._

_“Come, Sehun,” his father calls as he gallops over the log. Sehun carefully climbs over it since his legs aren’t as long as his father’s… yet. He can’t wait to grow as big as his father or at least as big as Kai._

_He stops a few feet away from the fallen doe, gawking at her with bulged eyes. He notices that the doe is still breathing. She is skinny enough for her ribs to show._

_His father crouches at her side and smiles sinisterly at his ministrations on the doe’s shoulder. He then beckons Sehun to come forward. Sehun obliges hesitantly._

_“Where is the dagger I gifted you?” his father inquires._

_Sehun lays a shaky hand on the dagger that has been imported from Castonia and was given to him by his father on his last birthday. “Here, Father,” he says._

_“Why don’t you put this poor thing out of its misery?”_

_Sehun meets his father’s encouraging smile with a frown. He licks his lips and draws the dagger as he slowly edges closer to the doe._

_“Father, I can do it,” Kai interrupts, stepping forward with a hand on the grip of his sword._

_The King pins Kai with a scowl. “I had not asked you, had I?” he says harshly._

_Kai’s eyebrows draw together in an annoyed glare. “He’s a child,” he grunts._

_Sehun blinks at his brother. “No, I’m not,” he says, and Kai looks up at him with something like anger in his gaze. “I can do it.” He grips his dagger and kneels beside his father._

_“That’s my son,” the King says with a wide grin, patting Sehun’s back. Kai retreats back to his tree with his hands fisted at his sides._

_Sehun looks to his father’s fingers that were pressed against a side of the doe’s neck. “Here,” his father says._

_Sehun swallows nervously. He briefly raises his head to look at the rest of the hunting party that has joined them again with their own rewards of the hunt; rabbits, foxes, and even some birds. The hunting hounds have dead rabbits clenched between their bared teeth with blood and drool dribbling down their mouths._

_“Sehun.”_

_Sehun turns back to his father and notices the impatience in his expression. With a tightened jaw, Sehun grips the dagger with both hands and raises it. He looks at the doe’s face. The pain in her eyes and the plea in her ragged breaths nauseate Sehun. He feels his stomach churn and toss._

_“I can’t,” he lets out and lowers the dagger, eyes welling up with tears._

_He then feels a strong hand curling around his arm and he is hauled up to his feet. He looks up at Kai, who pulls him away and draws his sword. In the blink of an eye, he drives the blade into the doe’s neck and kills the gentle beast._

_The King rises to his full height with a lockjaw. “Kai,” he begins in a gruff voice._

_“It might rain soon,” Kai blurts out, wiping the blood from his sword with a rag. “We ought to get going.”_

_Sehun sheathes his dagger and hangs his head. He knows he has disappointed his father today. He starts towards the horses with his heart still racing viciously. When he looks back at his father, he finds him holding Kai’s arm in a grip, snarling at him. Kai does not respond, but he looks upset. Sehun wonders if his father is mad at Kai for taking the doe’s life._

_Pausing in his tracks, Sehun waits for his brother. Fat grey clouds begin to shield the sun in the sky. As Kai approaches him, Sehun holds a hand up for Kai to take. But Kai ignores it and struts past Sehun without sparing him a look. Frowning, Sehun hurries after his brother and seizes Kai’s hand. Wrapping his little fingers around Kai’s palm, he follows his brother to the horses. Eventually, Kai withdraws his hand and turns to the hunting hounds that are growling behind him._

_He stops to glare at them. The hounds drop the carcasses to the ground and snarl at Kai ferociously. Sehun shudders when one of them yaps. He then looks up at Kai, who is glowering at the dogs with dark, ominous eyes._

_“Kai?” Sehun calls, raising a hand to Kai’s coat sleeve._

_Kai blinks then and shakes his head, as though he has just roused from a stupor, before glancing down to Sehun. The hounds stop barking all of a sudden and turn away from Kai. “Come along now,” Kai mutters breathlessly and takes Sehun’s hand._

~*~

Sehun’s eyes fling open to the blackness. It takes him a moment to realize that the canvas of black, freckled with winking diamonds is the night sky. The air around him is surprisingly light and warm. He grunts softly as he raises his head and rubs the throbbing back of it. Brightness overtakes his peripheral vision and he turns to the flickering fire that has taken a comfortable seat on the ground near him.

His gaze then slowly lifts to Kai, who is perched on a log. He pays Sehun no heed as he continues to snap and toss twigs into the cavorting fire as palls of smoke climb their way up into the air.

Sehun recalls the retired guard, the ambush, the Slayers, the Six Irons. Have they managed to escape, he wonders, but does nothing to ascertain himself. He still feels a little lightheaded and confused. Perhaps baffled. He doesn’t know what to make of what the guard had divulged. All that codswallop about an evil _Ka_ , the Sibyl, the notion of his mother having willingly killed her firstborn… But then again, Faes were as real as Nymphs and the means for immortality. These aren’t codswallop. They are real and Sehun holds first-hand witness to them.

It turns Sehun’s stomach with sickness.

But at the same time, all that bunkum does give grounds for all that’s happened, and it does warrant Kai’s wicked deeds and personality. Still… Believing in all that without a pinch of salt would be a foolish thing to do. For all that it matters, Kai might have orchestrated this entire thing to make Sehun believe in something that isn’t the truth.

“If you are done undressing me with your eyes,” Kai says without looking up at Sehun and it is only then Sehun realizes that he has been unconsciously staring at the toned chest Kai’s half-unbuttoned shirt lays bare. “why don’t you tell me what you and Alexius’ uncultured gang of lubberly overgrown baboons were doing out here?”

Sehun clears his throat and sits upright, rubbing the back of his head. “I was not… undressing you with my eyes,” he disagrees weakly and glances at the trees they are surrounded by. “Where are they?”

Kai finally looks at him. He doesn’t look murderous. Just very tired. “I hope in some pot being prepared to be stew for your people.”

Sehun scowls. “Those aren’t my people,” he mutters. “I do not fraternize with _all_ kinds of Slayers. Not all of them are good.”

Kai scoffs at that with a chuckle. “Oh, and I assume you think you are.” He rises to his feet and picks up his sword that rests on the ground. “You are called _Slayers_ and are feared for a reason.”

“We don’t all kill for money.”

“I can see that. Some of you do it for vengeance.”

Sehun swallows and stares at Kai, who unbuckles the scabbard of his sword and sheathes the blade before setting them aside on the log. Sehun considers the possibility of everything that the guard had told him being true.

Kai’s hunger to live… That would be just, wouldn’t it? His life and fate had been decided for him as soon as he was born. But even before he was born, the Sibyl had foreseen the wickedness within him. Even if he had lived, he would have been malignant. Still, taking the life of an infant… That is cruelty beyond description.

Sehun recalls the Nymph’s augury.

_This is your last birth. A stolen birth that isn’t yours. A borrowed life. This life will be redeemed. You will enter the underworld and your soul will never be forgiven. This is the fate I see. You will have no use of my tear. You are meant for death._

A stolen birth that isn’t his…

If it is all true, who was the brother Sehun loved and cherished? Where is he now? It’s his birth the _Ka_ has thieved. Could it be that he is still there, then? Trapped? Frozen and waiting to be thawed?

_Perhaps his frozen heart stand in need of someone to thaw it._

But then again, this _Ka_ is also his brother, his blood. Injustice had been served to him by the mother who had borne him, heart and body. How could he ever forgive such a betrayal?

“I am giving you a chance to come clean,” Kai says. “I can always go back there and find out for myself what you’ve been up to. But I am curious of how you’re planning to get out of this. What other tricks you might have concealed under that sleeve of yours. I did greatly enjoy your, unfortunately fruitless, endeavour to put me to sleep, though. Was Tia the mastermind behind all this or her brother? No, Alexius is more prudent than that. I will—”

“Who are you?”

Sehun’s question halts Kai in his tracks. He slowly turns his limpid gaze to Sehun. Silence falls heavy between them, apart from the soft crackling of the fire. Sehun exhales exhaustedly and lies back down on the ground, throwing an arm over his eyes.

“Such questions get you killed, Slayer,” Kai says at length and Sehun notices a tremor in his voice.

Without bothering to look at Kai, Sehun mutters, “Kill me, then.”

Silence.

“And do it slowly… and painfully while you’re at it,” Sehun added in a low whisper. Kai will not kill him, since Sehun’s death promises his own death.

A stinging pain is already spreading over his chest. Assuming that this Kai was the _Ka_ , Sehun would have unjustly killed his brother if he had succeeded the first night he had returned to the castle to assassinate Kai. The _Ka_ deserves to be eliminated and Kai deserves to be avenged. Killing him will no longer mean that he would be destroying the _Ka_ , but also destroying the brother he loves. Sehun would kill them both.

The Sibyl had also augurated that Sehun would be the _demise_ of his _brothers_. There is no other way to kill the _Ka_ … He has to kill them both.

Sehun withdraws his arm from his eyes and blinks rapidly to clear his blurry vision when he feels a weight descend on top of him. His breathing and heartbeat immediately quicken as Kai straddles his torso, almost low enough to be sitting on Sehun’s chest. Sehun is then directly faced with Kai’s crotch. It turns his mouth dry as anxiety and nervousness shoot through his body when Kai slowly curls his strong hands around Sehun’s neck, just above the gold collar.

He tries to remain calm. Nothing in all those years of training to become a Vagabond Slayer had prepared him to deal with something so sensual and venereal like this. It catches his breath and he finds it almost impossible to not to arch his chest into Kai’s crotch as Kai’s firm grip around his neck starts to cut off the air supply.

Blood pulses in Sehun’s temples and drums in his ears. His lungs begin to burn for wind as Kai presses his thumbs against Sehun’s windpipe. Sehun raises his hands to Kai’s and tightens them around Kai’s wrists, but he doesn’t make an effort to pull Kai’s hands away. Instead, he stares at the reflection of the fire in Kai’s dark eyes. Kai is staring back into his. He feels his own body burn under Kai’s. Never once in his life had he ever experienced anything so enkindling and arousing. It makes him dizzy with desire.

But then Kai’s grip loosens around his neck and he gently draws his thumbs to the corners of Sehun’s mouth while Sehun catches his breath. His heaving chest rises to stroke against Kai’s crotch. Blood surges to Sehun’s loins.

Kai thumbs the scars along the corners of Sehun’s mouth with his hands holding the sides of Sehun’s jaw, his eyes determinedly fixed on them as he caresses them. Sehun’s breathing calms and he is now overcome by another completely alien feeling. Kai looks like a curious child as he studies the jagged scars with great intent.

It looks as though he is almost… admiring them.

Sehun lifts his hands to Kai’s chest. Kai doesn’t blench away. In fact, Sehun isn’t sure if he even notices. They start to breathe laboriously as Sehun splays his fingers over Kai’s sternum, dragging them all the way down to his solid firm abdominal muscles to slowly unbutton the rest of his shirt.

Sehun realizes that his hair has grown a lot longer now when Kai brushes a lock of his hair out of his cheek before he lightly fingers the scar there. If Sehun didn’t know any better, he would have found the gesture incredibly affectionate and intimate.

The smell of Kai’s skin drives Sehun to edge of sanity. He knows he is probably just too exhausted to think rationally right now. He wonders what Kai’s excuse is for letting Sehun undo his shirt and drag his hands all over his abdomen. He just seems distracted by Sehun’s scarred face.

Sehun pushes himself up on his elbows and hooks his fingers into the waistband of Kai’s trousers. That is when Kai snaps out of his trance and flinches back with half-lidded, drowsy eyes. He pins Sehun with a drunk look, seizing Sehun’s hands that are trying to unlace his pants.

Sehun leans in closer, panting heavily. “Kiss me,” he blurts out in a breathy whisper, eyes focused on Kai’s parted lips.

Kai’s eyebrows then furrow with something like confusion and surprise.

“Don’t you want to kiss me? I know you don’t want me to leave you,” Sehun exhales shakily, leaning even closer to Kai’s mouth. He pulls a hand free from Kai’s arrest and lays it on Kai’s chest once more, digging his fingernails into it. “Why? Do you feel so lonely even with all of Havegnia under your feet? Do you need a family, regardless of the fact that you have a queen? Do you need a brother, although you have hundreds of servants catering to your every command? Why? Do you finally realize that having a life is not the same as living?”

Kai shoves Sehun’s hand away and rises to his feet.

Sehun sits up and works on calming his breathing.

“So, you have figured it out,” Kai says with a sly smirk.

Sehun draws a breath. “I think I have.”

Kai nods his head and paces the ground as his undone shirt sways with the wind. “Does it change anything?”

“Perhaps,” Sehun replies and rises from the ground, brushing the dirt and dry leaves from his pants.

“Perhaps?” Kai arches an eyebrow.

Sehun approaches him and stops a foot before Kai. “I’m going to try to save my brother. _You_ , on the other hand, will see your fate.”

Kai smiles. “I would like to know how you’re going to do that.”

“You love a show, don’t you? Why don’t you wait and watch?”

Kai closes the distance between them. “So, you’re going to ruin me and save your precious brother.” Sehun feels Kai’s warm breath on his cheek as he leans in to Sehun’s ear. “Ruin me all you want, Sehun.”

Sehun shudders at the way Kai whispers his name. He brushes his hands on Kai’s lower abdomen before lifting his hands all the way up to Kai’s neck. Curling one of them lightly around Kai’s neck, he slides the other into Kai’s hair at the back of his head and clutches at it tightly.

Kai pulls back a little and looks at Sehun’s lips.

“Will you kiss me now?” Sehun asks breathlessly.

Kai smirks. “No.”

The curt answer is followed by a low grunt as Kai grips at Sehun’s hips and shoves him until Sehun’s back is slammed against a nearby tree. The impact knocks all the air out of Sehun’s lungs. The fire is slowly dying behind them.

The dull ache in Sehun’s body, induced by a feverish desire and arousal, wakes every nerve in his brain. It was the most animal thing he has encountered. Like how hunger occasions the knowledge to eat, like how thirst needs to be quenched, his body kindles a fire that needs to be extinguished. It wasn’t a completely strange feeling. In his teenager years, Sehun had felt the desire to touch himself, or rather have someone touch him. Many nights, such desires left him with a longing loneliness. But the Master always reminded him of what his true desires were. Vengeance and justice. Sexual desires would be nothing but a distraction, and so is love.

It isn’t as though Kai has never touched him before. But Sehun has never been soberer than he is right this instant and it shocks him in all honesty that he willingly wants it.

Caught between Kai and the tree, Sehun looks into Kai’s eyes before he clenches his own tightly when Kai slowly but firmly presses his cock against Sehun’s. The friction created by the thick fabric of their pants is simply mind-numbing. Sehun finds himself struggling to swallow a moan.

Kai then pulls back slightly before he gently rubs his hardening cock against Sehun’s again. His hands on Sehun’s hips do not lose their grip as he continues to grind their cocks together a few more times at a mercilessly slow pace. Sehun feels as though he has been inebriated. His knees are almost buckling.

All that he could think of, apart from the ruthless heat and friction Kai is gracing him with, is the longing to feel Kai’s mouth against his own. He feels sick for just wanting such an abhorrent thing. He supposes he isn’t any less of a perverted degenerate than Kai himself.

His eyes hungrily follow the beads of sweat that trickle down Kai’s bronze, hard chest, and he licks his lips. Their ragged breathing makes obscene noises that disrupt the otherwise quiet forest. Kai’s shirt sags at his shoulders as he picks up the pace of his thrusts.

And then, all of a sudden, everything stops.

Sehun is deafened by the sound of his own breaths as he looks at Kai, who has released Sehun’s hips and is now backing away with a smug smile playing on his lips.

Sehun slumps against the tree with his head spinning like it’s caught in a whirlpool.

“You _are_ sick,” Kai remarks, grinning. He makes it sound like a compliment, but Sehun couldn’t tell. He can barely hear his own thoughts. “Makes you all the more rare and beautiful.”

Sehun slides down the tree and crouches on the ground with a painful erection between his legs. He looks up at Kai’s sinister smile and grimaces. “What?”

Kai adopts a crouch before him and cups Sehun’s chin, lifting his head up. “You were reluctant before. But now that you know that I’m the equivalent of a dead corpse, who’s also your half-brother, you’re more than willing to let me fuck you. Riveting.”

Sehun closes his eyes and takes a few breaths. “Whatever that impresses you, Your Highness,” he mutters.

Kai shoves Sehun’s chin away and rises back to his full height. “I’ll have you know that there is no way you can save your dear old brother. He and I are one now. In fact, we are more _me_ than him, you must have noticed. So, save your energy.”

With that, he turns around and starts buttoning his shirt. Then picking up his scabbarded sword, he turns back to Sehun. “Oh, and if you still want me to fuck you, make yourself a little bit more presentable like a proper whore and find me in my quarters back home. Alexius might have some objection to his prospective consort spreading his legs for me, though.” He shrugs.

Sehun pulls himself up and steadies himself. “Your fear is starting to show, Kai.”

Kai pauses to glare at Sehun. “What did you say?”

Sehun smiles now. “A man who’s afraid of dying,” he begins and walks towards Kai. Then brushing past Kai, he says, “dies every day.”


	30. Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Chapter contains mentions of child abuse.

Sehun eventually concedes defeat. He is lost.

The sun has come up. Flocks of jays are shrieking in the bright morning sky. He wonders if he has been walking in circles. The forest does not relent. The trees are uncooperative. The wind refuses to show him the way home. If he can even call that place his _home_. Well, it is. Kai is the unwelcome guest living in Sehun’s home.

Either way, he needs to get back to Tia and Alexius. They are the only ones who can help him get rid of Kai. Speaking of which, he isn’t sure why Kai hasn’t taken measures to prevent Sehun from telling anyone else about the truth. He doesn’t have to look back to know that Kai is still following silently, maintaining a wide distance between them.

He is probably plotting something devious. Sehun has to keep in mind that whoever he decides to drag into this will be in harm’s way. Kai will not let them be just as he will not stand by and watch Sehun scheme his downfall. He will hurt Tia and Alex without batting an eye if they pose a potential threat to him.

Sehun has to move carefully.

He comes to a halt when his legs were ready to give up. Perching on a log, he catches his breath and looks at Kai, who also stops to lean against a tree.

“What is your intention?” Sehun asks in a coarse voice. Kai glances at him with a drowsy look. “You haven’t killed me. Even though I have figured everything out.”

Kai smirks then. “It is incredibly naïve of you to think that you have figured _everything_ out.”

Sehun scowls as his heart begins to pound. Kai is too afraid of death to seem so relaxed about Sehun finding out the truth. Unless… it isn’t the entire truth.

“Do you know why you would make a horrible ruler?” Kai says at length. “Because you believe what you see and what you hear.”

“A monster wouldn’t make a great ruler either.”

Kai shrugs. “I’m not doing so bad now, am I?” he scoffs. “Havegnia thrives under my reign, doesn’t it? Even better than it had with your dead father on the throne.”

Sehun shoots up to his feet. “Do not speak of him, you worthless bastard.”

Kai laughs. “You loved your father dearly, didn’t you? But like I said. You believed what you saw and heard.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrow. “I am getting rid of you if it’s the last thing I do.”

A corner of Kai’s lips quirks up. “You’re welcome to try.” He steps closer and takes Sehun’s jaw in his hand. “But don’t be too disappointed with what you discover at the end of your journey.”

“You are just being arrogant now,” Sehun spits. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell people?”

Kai scoffs. “There must be a handful of those who’d believe your story. Some morons and some desperate schemers. You will sort it out soon.”

Sehun pulls away and turns towards the sound of the beating hooves on the ground. He doesn’t see Kai going for his sword. In fact, Kai looks more relaxed as he stares vacantly at the trees.

Horses and their riders emerge, and Sehun immediately looks to the Six Irons and Alexius.

“You are all right,” Alex gasps as he dismounts the beast and approaches Sehun. “I was ready to strangle my companions for losing you.”

“Told you he’d survive,” Diarmid says. Sehun notices the fresh cut on Diarmid’s forehead.

“He’s alive. Pay up,” Olivar says to Tei, who then tosses Olivar a couple of gold coins.

Alex stops to muster Kai from head to toe. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

Kai grips the hilt of his sword. “You sure do love to take the words out of my mouth, don’t you, Alex?”

“Not the only thing I love from your mouth,” Alexius snorts. “What happened?” He turns to Sehun.

“I’ll tell you,” Sehun mutters. Kai is smirking. Sehun frowns.

Alex curls an arm around Sehun’s back and ushers him towards the horse. “Did everything go okay?” he whispers into Sehun’s ear. “Tia told me.”

Sehun remains mum.

“We will talk later,” Alex says as he helps Sehun mount the horse.

Sehun looks at Kai, who hasn’t moved from where he stands. He watches Alex climb onto his horse behind Sehun. Then he meets Sehun’s gaze before Alex reins the horse and they ride away, leaving Kai behind.

~*~

“This can’t be,” Alexius lets out as he paces the chamber, massaging his temples as though to nurse a headache.

Sehun wolfs down another loaf of sweet thyme bread and looks up at the Triyanian Prince. Tia retreats to the barred windows and stares out at the morning sky. Sehun isn’t sure if they believe his story. But they probably know that Sehun has no reason to fabricate any of this.

“Do you… believe me?” he asks anyway when silence falls heavy in the chamber.

Alexius gives a curt nod of his head as his eyebrows furrow deeper. “So, you are saying that there is this… _Ka_ that resides within Kai’s body.”

“At least now it is,” Sehun says. “It must have completely overtaken his body now.”

“What do we do?” Tia asks, turning around to face her brother with a frown. “We cannot just not do anything now that we know what’s happening.”

Alexius regards her with a smile. “We are not warlocks and witches, darling sister. These things we cannot deal with. But,” he paused, rubbing his beard. “there are people who can.”

Sehun shifts on the mattress. “No,” he says. “The moment he suspects we’re up to something, he will do everything in his power to secure himself.”

Tia and Alexius turn to him. “But there is someone I know, who might be able to help our situation,” Alexius says. “I will send an urgent missive to Triyan immediately.”

“What of this Sybil you spoke of?” Tia says. “If we can find her, maybe she can help us.”

“How do we find her? We know nothing about her,” Alex huffs. “Look. We can’t even tell for certain that all of this hokum is real.”

Sehun glares. “You said you believed me.”

“I believe _you_. But I do not particularly believe in ghost stories. Tell me. Do you entirely buy this?”

No, Sehun doesn’t. There is nothing that he entirely trusts anymore.

“However, like I said, this pythoness I know might help us.” Alex rubs the back of his neck. “But first, we have other matters that require our attention. Father wants me back and he wants to meet you.”

Sehun’s eyes widen. “ _Me_?”

“You _are_ my prospective consort.”

“I haven’t agreed to that. You don’t have to do this to save me, Alexius,” Sehun says.

“If you stayed, he will _ruin_ you, Sehun,” Alex growls. “And he won’t stop. You will not be able to defeat him if you remained here.”

“He is right,” Tia chimes in. “The moment my brother leaves, Kai will try to tyrannize you again. The only way to save you right now is if you become a Triyanian asset.”

“But I cannot leave him either,” Sehun says. “Not if I wanted to defeat him. I have to stay.”

“Very well,” Alex sighs. “Let’s handle one thing at a time. I will try to reach the pythoness. Meanwhile, stay away from Kai.” It is an order for Sehun.

When Alexius storms out of the chamber, Tia walks over to Sehun’s side with a faint smile. “Have faith,” she says softly, stroking Sehun’s arm. “We have come this far. We will defeat him.”

“You should be cautious, Tia,” Sehun tells her. “So should your brother. Kai isn’t a fool. He knows what we’re up to. And I don’t know why he isn’t doing anything to stop us.”

Tia drops her hand to her side and frowns. “Possibly because this is what he wants.”

“And we are playing _his_ game.”

“He isn’t moving his pieces. We are moving them for him.”

Sehun heaves a breath. “But why? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would he let us be when he knows?”

Tia looks as puzzled as him. “I just hope we’d get the victory this time.”

Sehun wraps an arm around her shoulders as she leans against him. “Me, too.”

~*~

After the fourth day, his thoughts can no longer keep him entertained in the chambers. He opens the doors and slips out before he is halted by Lukas and Jax.

“Where are you off to?” Jax inquires.

Sehun sighs. “Your Prince hasn’t returned.”

“I believe he’s been occupied by boring politics,” Lukas says. “But he said you shouldn’t be wandering.”

“I think if Kai wanted me to be hurt, I would have been by now. Kai is the King here. He will have you removed if he wanted to,” Sehun tells them. “But don’t worry. I am not going too far.”

“You are now under Alex’s care. So, we cannot let you go anywhere without his permission,” Lukas says. Sehun glowers at him but then lets out a heavy breath and saunters back into the chambers.

“Tell your Prince to come see me as soon as he can then,” he spits and slams the door shut.

He hasn’t seen Tia or Alexius in four days. He isn’t doing much to defeat Kai by being holed up in here. And speaking of Kai, he hasn’t tried to reach Sehun lately either. Well, he is a king after all and Tia is the Queen of Havegnia. They have duties to fulfil. Alexius also has errands to run here in Havegnia. Sehun supposes running a kingdom is more important than dealing with an evil spirit inhabiting his brother’s body.

To be fair, the evil spirit is also his brother.

It sounds like a cosmic joke.

Later that night, Sehun tries to sneak out again. He finds Jax asleep on the floor and Lukas is nowhere to be seen. Keeping his footsteps light, Sehun starts towards the east corridor, where he finds a familiar door. Stopping before it, he surveys the carvings on the door and a moment later, he realizes that it is the library.

He enters it, convinced that it will be empty at this hour of the night. If nothing, the books will keep him entertained and distracted.

The library is nothing like what he remembers. As a child, he often got lost in here and he didn’t particularly like spending his time around books and the preceptors. Now, the library doesn’t seem so daunting or challenging. The tall, countless bookshelves welcome him with an offer for solacing isolation.

As he wanders between the bookshelves, he wonders what plans Tia and Alexius have designed to take down Kai. Whatever it is, he is certain Kai will be one step ahead of them. He wouldn’t have been so cocky about Sehun finding out the truth if he didn’t have a backup plan. Or if Sehun had gotten it all wrong, and Kai is just sitting back and watching the whole show for his own amusement.

He stops before a bookshelf and extracts an old book from it.

“Fables of the Olden Days,” he reads off the cover and flips through the tattered pages. Then returning it to the shelf, he proceeds further into the library. He soon reaches a glass bookcase, showcasing the journals of the previous kings.

Curiosity peaked within him as he tries to open the case. Then frowning, he takes a step back when he realizes it’s locked. Sehun sighs, wondering if his father’s journal is also in there. He can try breaking the case. Just as he turns around to grab something tough enough to break the glass, he is frozen as he meets Kai’s head scholar.

The old man fixes Sehun with a forbearing gaze.

“Found something you’re looking for?” Scholar Harmel inquires.

Sehun clears his throat. “I don’t think so.”

“Hmm,” the scholar hums and brushes past Sehun. “The Journals of the old Kings. These are never meant to be read by anyone. And it is my responsibility that it stays that way.”

Sehun keeps his silence as he turns around to leave. He pauses when he finds a portrait on the wall. He blinks at it, carefully scrutinizing the soldiers in it. He recognizes his father almost instantly, regally standing at the front with a hand on his sheathed sword. At his side, Kai is holding onto his sword. He looks so young. Around them, the battle worn soldiers stand, proud and victorious. Kai has one of his arms draped around a fair-headed boy, who looks as young and tall as him.

“It is one of the first battles against Triyan Kai had won for the King,” Scholar Harmel says when he catches Sehun studying the portrait. “The King wanted to have the moment and victory commemorated. It is painted by one of the finest artists in Havegnia.”

Sehun can feel his heartbeat quickening. “I do not recall Havegnia and Triyan ever having a feud.”

“It was a region skirmish,” the scholar says with a sigh. “The Kings remained friends, however.  You wouldn’t know, would you?”

Sehun meets the scholar’s eyes and quickly looks away. He knows that his father had been good enough friends with the Triyanian King to have his son betrothed to the Triyanian Princess.

“How long have you worked here?” Sehun asks.

“Oh, for very long. But I was just an apprentice back then.”

Must be why Sehun isn’t familiar with the man. “How can you serve a monster like him?”

Scholar Harmel grins. “He’s a deserving king. I will follow a man who can lead.”

“He’s a tyrant.”

“He’s a ruler.”

“How do you think he ascended to the throne?” Sehun snarls, clenching his fists. “You are a man wiser than that. Certainly, you knew that it wasn’t just an assassination.”

The scholar lowers his head.

“Just like how you know who I really am,” Sehun adds. The scholar lifts his gaze and nods his head slowly.

“I had tried to stop him from tormenting you further when you first came here,” he admits. “I told him that he could use a man of your prowess on his hunt for the Spirabiliz.”

“Is that why… he took me on his journey?” Sehun rasps. “You… tried to save me…”

“He no longer feels threatened by you. And that is why you are alive.”

That isn’t why Sehun is alive. Kai would have killed him if it weren’t for the Nymph that foresaw Kai’s death that follows Sehun’s.

“Never mind what you did or said,” Sehun says. “He killed my father. He is a betrayer. I don’t know what he has done to my mother… And…” he trails off with the thought of his brother, who is still trapped. “you worship him.”

“I am loyal to my King,” the scholar says.

“Then _I_ am your King,” Sehun spits. “It is I whom you should be loyal to. I am the rightful heir.”

Harmel frowns. “Son, you have been through a lot. But you haven’t opened your eyes. You believe that your father ascended to the throne by succeeding his ancestors?”

Sehun blinks. “What?”

The scholar fishes out a key from the pocket of his grey robe and walks over to the bookcase. Unlocking it, he retrieves four of the journals and returns to Sehun. He hands Sehun the journals.

“Why are you giving these to me?” Sehun asks confusedly.

“So that you will understand. These are not just journals. They are testaments. The real monsters you spoke of were the ones you believed needed to be avenged.” He turns around and stops again. “I heard that you will be journeying to Triyan very soon with Prince Alexius and his band of goons. I wish you luck. You might need it. Triyan would be nothing like what your slaying ways had taught you.”

With that, the scholar leaves Sehun alone in the library. After taking a few moments to compose himself, Sehun returns to his chambers, hugging the journals to his chest. Jax is still unconscious on the floor.

Taking his seat on the bed, Sehun picks up the journal that must have belonged to his great-great-grandfather.

~*~

The sky is rapidly brightening outside. Sehun finally opts for his father’s journal, and as he leans against the headboard, he takes a few deep breaths with his stomach churning.

He thinks he recognizes his father’s handwriting, although he cannot tell for sure. He recalls sitting on the chaise lounge in his father’s study for hours, watching the man write letters and sign documents while Sehun waited for him to tend to him.

_What a pretty, valueless treasure he was…_

Sehun drags his fingertips along the inked parchment.

_So pretty that I was unwilling to share him with anyone else._

He stops as his fingers begin to quiver.

The door opens. Sehun quickly stuffs the journals under the pillows and looks over to Kai, who shuts the door behind him and smirks in Sehun’s way.

“Let me save you some time if you haven’t already read them all,” Kai says as he walks over to the locked window. “I can give you a brief rundown of what’s in there.”

“What are you doing here?” Sehun gasps.

“I thought Alexius would keep an eye on you. He is doing a lousy work.” He sighs and jerks his head towards the doors. “The guards he assigned you are asleep on the job.”

“I don’t need anyone protecting me from you. I think I’ve already demonstrated that I can protect myself.”

“That you have,” Kai says. “Today is your last day here, isn’t it?”

Sehun arches an eyebrow. “What?”

“Well, last night while I was down on my knees, pleasuring your betrothed just as he wanted me to, he told me that you’d be going with him to Triyan tomorrow.”

Sehun rolls his eyes. “And if I am?”

“What? Do you think I will greatly miss having you as my personal bitch?”

“You are not saying otherwise.”

Kai laughs as he lounges himself on the chaise. “You are twisted and ill.”

“Not as twisted as you,” Sehun says and drops his gaze.

“Oh, really? I’m not the one that wants to be fucked by his possessed half-brother. Speaking of which,” he says and leans back on his seat. “Have you and Tia come up with a brilliant plan yet? God, I never should have married that sly bitch.”

“Don’t you dare speak of her that way.”

Kai smirks. “Did this affection spawn from a childhood infatuation or the fact that you’re screwing my wife?”

Sehun shakes his head, letting out a breathy laugh. “I really don’t care if you’re some arsehole ghost, I would be happy to kick you in the balls right now.”

“You see,” Kai says, clearing his throat as he straightens up. “I’m not really a ghost. A ghost would be easy to get rid of. I am him. We were borne together. We were created together. Our souls were… forged together. There are things that are way beyond human understanding.”

“Did you get this fucked up immediately once you were born?”

“No. I believe our mother killed me before I could even take my first breath.”

Sehun falls silent then as he hangs his head. His heart slowly starts to hammer against his chest. “Do you think it’s fair?” he asks after a while. “To do what you’re doing to… my brother when he has done nothing wrong?”

Kai rises from his seat and walks over to the bed. Sehun stiffens. “He hadn’t done anything wrong,” Kai says. “I was just saving him.”

“From what?” Sehun asks, eyebrows knitting into a scowl.

“From this.” Kai leans over Sehun and yanks his father’s journal from under the pillow. Holding it up, Kai clenches his jaw. “You obviously haven’t read this, or you wouldn’t be asking me that question.”

“My father used to hit you,” Sehun says. “Alex told me. But is that a good enough reason for betraying him while he trusted you and treated you… Kai… whatever like his own son? Is it fair to steal everything that wasn’t yours? To torment your brothers and your mother?”

Kai lets out a laugh, patting the journal to his chest. “Treated me like his own son? And… your mother is being tormented? She deserves way more. She’s a monster. And your father was an even bigger monster. You, however, were a child. And that explains why you only saw what you wanted to see.”

Sehun climbs out of the bed. “Then tell me what I didn’t see!” he growls, shoving Kai back by the chest.

Staggering a step back, Kai sighs. “Why should it matter? This isn’t how the story is supposed to go. Stop getting distracted, sweetheart. Get back to your attempts to destroy me.”

He turns around to leave but stops when Sehun catches his arm. “You mock me,” he spits. “You take me a for a joke, for an amusement. I am the Prince of Havegnia. You were supposed to be _dead_. I wouldn’t mind… Kai being the King. But he wouldn’t be _you_. You are not him.”

Kai yanks his arm free. “He let me become him because he was losing.”

“Losing what?”

“You are trying to avenge your father’s death, aren’t you?”

“I am trying to requite your betrayal,” Sehun snarls.

Kai nods his head. His face is ashen with anguish now. “What else did Alex tell you? Not much, I suppose. Did he tell you that I had gotten all the scars because your father used to beat me? Well, that’s the story I told Alex.” He closes the distance between them then. He bares his teeth at Sehun and whispers, “Most of the scars came from the bastard whoring me out to the members of his court.”

Sehun’s ears ring as his entire body falls limp.

Kai’s hand rises to slowly clutch at Sehun’s neck. “Until I turned fourteen. Then he started to have me for himself. Except for that one time when he ordered me to sleep with Alexius. Almost every night, he would take me to his chambers. He would tie me up. Flog me to make me scream. He would say that I should be a grateful dog. And guess what. Our beloved little mother approved. Because she was too damn scared to utter a word against her King.”

He releases Sehun’s neck and turns his back to Sehun, rubbing the back of his neck. “I fell in love once. Your father killed him. No… He made him kill himself by threatening to harm his family. When I confronted him, he said that I was his. And if you think that’s the last of his brutality, you’d be surprised.”

He turns around and flings the journal in Sehun’s way.

“Go on and read the unsung praises of your hero,” Kai spits spitefully. “I won’t be the only subject of his sickening fixations you’d find in there.”

Sehun’s stomach tosses and he almost retches. Nausea takes over his composure. “You’re lying,” he breathes out weakly.

Kai chuckles and inhales sharply. “I was never going to hurt you,” he then says in a soft voice. “I saw… I knew. In that Hell, you were the only one who made me smile. Made _him_ … smile. The innocence and chastity of a child… it was refreshing in his world of degeneracy and filth.”

He cups a side of Sehun’s face and tenderly brushes his thumb over Sehun’s cheekbone. Sehun would have leaned into the touch if only he hasn’t been so horrified.

Kai stares into his eyes for a moment. Then he quickly retrieves his hand. “But this is _my_ life. I am not going to give it up for anyone. Not even you. This is my final chance to live. And I _will_ live like a king. I will kill anyone who tries to take this away from me.”

“You… You still killed Felix,” Sehun says, barely getting his voice out as his eyes sting with tears.

“Yes, I did.” That is all that he says before he walks out of the chamber.

Sehun plumps on the bed and stares vacantly at a wall as a tear rolls down his cheek. He picks up the journal from the floor and flips it open.

_Strength of a king…_

_Such youth… Beautiful…_

_Her bastard son… Mine…_

_The war was won. I celebrated. I rewarded him…_

Sehun cries out ferociously and hurls the journal at the window.

“Lord, is everything all right?” Alexius exclaims in a gasp when he enters. Sehun turns to him as he breaks into a sob. “Sehun.”

Sehun melts in Alex’s embraces exhaustedly when the Prince wraps his arms around him. “I have been lied to ever since I was born… I worshipped the cruellest man to exist,” he pants against Alex’s shoulder as Alex strokes his back. “I ruined myself to avenge his death. I hadn’t realized that the brother I loved dearly was dying every single moment of his life while he was laughing. I didn’t know there was so much misery behind that smile.”

“Sehun, calm yourself,” Alex mutters. “What’s happened?”

Sehun doesn’t say anything more as he drowsily lets his head rest against Alex’s chest. “Take me with you,” he says. “I do not wish to stay here any longer.”

Alex pulls back to look into Sehun’s eyes. “Does that mean you’re agreeing to marry me?”

Sehun nods shakily. “If it’ll get me out of here and away from Kai, then yes.”

Alexius smiles as he takes Sehun’s hand into his. “I have more good news. The pythoness has sent me a reply, saying that she will help us. But she wants us to bring Kai to her.”

“What?”

“It isn’t a big issue. He has to come to Triyan for our wedding, anyway. And,” Alex says, cupping Sehun’s jaw to stroke a scar there with his thumb. “you should get ready. We will be leaving at first light. And it will be all very new to you. My father isn’t the kindest man. He will certainly have a lot to say to our marriage when he sees you.”

“Because I’m ugly.”

Alex laughs. “I did not say that. You are certainly not ugly.”

“Horrifying, then.” Sehun smiles and chuckles softly through the tears. Alex wipes them from Sehun’s scarred cheeks.

“No. But… my children will be a lot tougher to handle. They can be quite a handful and… very naughty.”

Sehun exhales a trembling breath. “Thank you, Alex. For… doing this just to save me.”

“It isn’t just to save you. It would be honour to have the Prince of Havegnia for a consort.”

Sehun clenches his eyes and rests his head back on Alex’s shoulder. This is too much for him to take in all at once. In only a heartbeat, all his desire for revenge has dissipated. And now, if he remained here any longer, he will start to feel things for Kai that he shouldn’t. Sympathy, long forgotten affection, love.


	31. Chapter Twenty-Nine

(A/N) Hey guys! Follow my tweetfic account > <https://twitter.com/seraphicsekai>. And also check out my recent sekai oneshots ([a dime for a dream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13970331) (rentboy!au) and [Death Trap](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13940922) (pwp)). Thank you again for leaving kudos and comments! I still can't believe KLP is one of the most voted sekai & exo fics on this platform eeeep! <3 Enjoy the chapter.

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The port is bustling with throngs of matelots and boatmen. Boats and ships creak and dance on the waves. The port is loud and chaotic in the afternoon. The air is salty and warm when Sehun inhales it through his mouth. Past the ships and overbearing crowd, the blue bewitching ocean awaits patiently. Up in the bright noon sky, the seagulls soar and circle amidst fat puffs of clouds. The strong breeze whips salt into his eyes as he pushes past a sailor, who is yelling out orders to the rest of his crew. The whole scenery resembles a moving portrait.

“This way,” Olivar says, ushering Sehun towards a ship that stands regally in the middle of the anchorage. Sehun comes to a stop to gawk up at the majestic vessel.

“A veteran of the brine, ain’t she?” says Kali who walks up to Sehun’s side out of nowhere.

Sehun licks his chapped lips, mustering the magnificence before his eyes.

“It’s Alexius’,” Olivar says.

“It’s beautiful,” Sehun lets out.

“Board it, then,” comes Alex’s voice from behind. Sehun turns around and faces Alex with a brittle smile. “Isn’t she seaworthy?” Alex says, curling an arm around Sehun’s back as he looks up at the ship. “It was a gift from my mother.”

Sehun’s eyes flit to the name carved on the ship’s side. **GUARDIAN**.

“ _Guardian_ ,” he reads out loud.

“Tia named it actually,” Alex chuckles. “Come on.” He stretches an arm toward the ship, beckoning Sehun to board it.

Agitation washes over him. He is about to leave Havegnia, his home, the home he was determined to redeem. But now, it is just a place he wants to run away from. Perhaps, a better fate awaits him in Triyan. It will not bring him back all those years of anguish and pain. But perhaps, it can indemnify him the losses he’s endured.

Even so, he is walking away from everything he had spent all his life working towards. Something tells him that this will not be the last of it, however.

“Welcome aboard,” Diarmid greets with a coy bow and a mocking smirk as Sehun finds a spot to stand in on the deck. His gaze momentarily turns to Tia, who is smiling in his way from where she stands on the quarter deck. He smiles back at her before walking over to her.

“How are you feeling?” she inquires when he reaches her. The sunlight dances between the strands of her dark hair and glimmers in her loving eyes. The diamond diadem on her blinds Sehun for a moment.

“Better,” Sehun says.

Tia slips a hand into Sehun’s. “It will get even better when we get there,” she says with a sigh and looks over Sehun’s shoulder. “We have to make sure that he doesn’t suspect anything about pythoness.”

Sehun quickly follows her worried gaze and spots Kai boarding the ship with an expressionless face. His hand constantly lingers over the hilt of his ebony sword.

Sehun is reminded of their journey to Iugis. He wonders how many adventures he would have gone with his brother had things remained the way they had when he was a child. He and Kai would have been partners in everything. Kai would have been Sehun’s advisor and the commander of his army when Sehun rose to the throne. He would have been a brother Sehun would turn to in moments of adversity. And his heart aches when he wonders if his love for Kai would have intensified into something iniquitous and wrong.

Has it now?

He returns his attention to Tia when she withdraws her hand from his. “Is everything all right?” she asks, noticing the distress in Sehun’s expression.

“Yes,” Sehun lets out. “I haven’t asked you this… But are you all right about this marriage of convenience between your brother and I?”

Tia chuckles. “Of course, I am. I want you safe before all else, Sehun,” she says in a very low voice. “But I must warn you, even for a marriage of convenience, you will need my father’s blessings. It won’t be easy.”

Sehun glances down at the scars on his hands. “I’m not sure I am exactly the court material here.”

Tia smiles. “We will help you with that. You will only need to do this until we dethrone Kai. Then you will have Havegnia back.”

Sehun’s heart races. He no longer wants to dethrone Kai. It sounds ridiculous to pity Kai considering all of his unjust atrocities, but that’s what it is. Pity.

Alex exits the captain’s cabin and climbs up to the ship’s wheel. The mainmast is lowered. The anchor is drawn up. The ship starts to move away from the port.

“You should get inside, Your Majesty,” says one of the Havegnian royal guards.

Tia bows her head to Sehun and with a smile, retreats to her cabin.

Sehun gazes out at the sea and takes in the beauty of it. He sucks in a sharp breath and smiles at the horizon, enjoying the breeze that caresses his scarred face and strokes his hair. For as long as he can remember, he has been fixated on nothing but his hunger for vengeance. For the first time, he smiles at the possibilities and the adventures life has in store for him. The sea, the sky, the ship. They make him feel like a new person. But most of all, the desire to finally let go is what lets him breathe at long last.

~*~

Sehun paces the cabin assigned to him while waiting for Alexius to make an appearance. The ship rocks, and he holds onto the mantelpiece of the fireplace to steady himself.

He then takes a seat on the bed and fetches the only satchel he had packed. It contains only the ‘Fables of the Olden Days’, the book Scholar Harmel had generously allowed Sehun to take with him when he found the scholar in the library earlier today in order to return the spiteful journals of the previous Havegnian Kings. Sehun wonders if Kai keeps one himself.

 The old Kings were fond of mistreatment and tyranny towards their people. They achieved loyalty and support through subjugation and fear. Public scourging and executions were the practices the old Kings endorsed. They took wives of other men, they killed children, they stole the people’s money in the name of taxations. Sehun, unfortunately, as a child, saw nothing but good in his father. And strength. He was taught to believe that the courage to be ruthless is what makes a good king. Kai is all that and more. More than what Sehun’s disgusting father could ever be.

Kai, as the current King of Havegnia, hasn’t inflicted such torments on his people. The Kingdom truly thrives under his reign and the people are happy with prosperity and peace. He is just to his people. Chaos and havoc will be wreaked on Havegnia should a shift in the reign and rule befalls it. Even as the true heir of Havegnia, Sehun is no King. Now that Sehun has no desire to avenge his father’s death or save his wounding mother, he believes that leaving Kai on the throne is in the best interest of Havegnia’s wellbeing.

However, not _this_ Kai. Not the _Ka_ that resides within him. No matter what the justification is, Sehun wants his brother back.

_Tales of Reziwin._

Sehun draws his fingertips along the title of the first chapter. “The land was of repute for its hermaphroditic men and epicene women who bore children.” Sehun licks his lips. Though he has heard enough about the mythical land of Reziwin and its hermaphrodites, it still sounds a little far-fetched.

There is a knock on the door and Sehun’s head whips up. “Come in,” he calls out and the door is pushed open.

Alexius enters with a couple of servants bearing folded clothes in their arms. “Are you seasick yet?” he asks jokingly.

“Almost,” Sehun groans, rising to his full height. “What’s this?”

“Clothes for you to wear.”

Sehun eyes the opulent raiment and then turns his attention to the scabbarded sword. “Is that also mine?” he asks, his heart leaping in excitement.

“Yes,” Alex says. “I figured the only way I would be able to introduce you to my father and court as a prospective consort is by showing you off as a compelling combatant. A soldier for a consort. That is something greatly valued in Triyan.”

Sehun picks up the silver sword and examines the blade. “I never knew Triyan men of the reigning monarch took other men as consorts,” he mutters, drawing a thumb along the beautifully forged blade.

“We can have as many consorts as we wish. Some are not required to share a bed with the royals. Consorts are also companions.”

Sehun smiles at Alex. “I did not mean it like that. We do not have to share a bed.”

Alexius laughs. “Of course not.” He picks up a shirt from the servant and hands it to Sehun. “Get dressed and come up to the main deck. Oh, and we should find a time to brush up your diplomatic skills.”

“I have none,” Sehun admits. “I was a child when I fled all politics, remember?”

“Which is why I am going to have to teach a few things before we reach Triyan. And get you a haircut.” With a curt smile, Alex then storms out of the cabin.

Sehun flourishes his new sword enthusiastically and slices the air before him. The servants jump back with alarmed eyes.

“Sorry,” Sehun says with a sheepish grin and takes a good look at his blade again.

~*~

Evening has darkened the vast, endless canvas of sky, speckled with countless clusters of coruscating stars. Sehun climbs out of his cabin and joins the crew on the deck.

It is crowded and loud. Cheers and guffaws circulate the deck, as does the pungent scent of pints of mead. Sehun then hears the sound of metal clanging and men crying out profanities. He jostles the men blocking his path to get a better view of what’s going on.

A wide grin stretches his mouth when he finds Lukas and Olivar duelling on the deck, brandishing each other’s swords threateningly.

“Did your mother teach you to fight?” Olivar yells at Lukas.

“No. She was too busy banging your father,” Lukas shoots at his twin brother. A wave of laughter breaks among the spectators, and Sehun finds himself laughing, too.

Blades clang as Olivar lunges at Lukas. Lukas soon emerges as victorious when he pins Olivar to the floorboards, holding him at swordpoint.

“Well, you cleaned up nice.”

Sehun turns to Tia, who has walked up to him. “Thank you,” he mutters, running a hand through his newly cut hair. “Courtesy of your beloved and generous brother.” He gestures at the new, crisp shirt, pants and boots.

Tia blushes. In the crowd, Sehun spots Diarmid approaching them.

“Who’s next?!” Lukas yaps, holding his sword up.

“You should go,” Tia suggests.

Sehun quickly shakes his head. “No.”

Diarmid then shoves Sehun forward. “Show us some of that Slayer dexterity of yours,” Diarmid says, winking.

Sehun swallows as he turns to face Lukas. Like Olivar, Lukas is also ridiculously tall and buff, all muscles and beard. Like a beast. All of the Six Irons are beasts. But Sehun has noticed that Lukas and Olivar both waste too much of their energy on unnecessarily heavy moves. What they could have achieved in two moves they obtained in five.

Sehun plants his feet firmly in the floorboard as he draws his sword.

“Oh, look at your new toy,” Lukas scoffs. “Ready to be chewed down, boy?”

Sehun smirks, wielding his sword. The blade is light like another limb. It is clear to see that Alexius has spared no coins in getting Sehun one of the finest forgeries.

“Empty vessels make the loudest of noises,” Sehun says and Lukas smiles a toothy grin.

“It knows how to talk,” he spits and lurches forward.

Sehun blocks the first blow without much effort and slips to his right when Lukas swings his sword in his way. He stumbles and Sehun uses the opportunity to boot Lukas on the arse, sending the man staggering forward.

The crowd breaks into a laughter.

“He’s good!” Sehun hears someone say from the crowd. He sees Tia grinning eagerly. Diarmid is scowling at her side.

Lukas curses out loud and vaults forward again. Sehun easily slides to his side and misses the blow. When Lukas stumbles over his footing, Sehun elbows him in his ribs before he headbutts Lukas in his face.

Lukas shakes his head and wipes his bleeding nose on the back of his hand. That is when Sehun springs onto him, knocks the sword out of Lukas’ grip, and with an easy swing, he drives Lukas towards the edge of the boat.

Barely out of breath, Sehun raises his sword to Lukas’ throat and smiles smugly.

“Good enough?”

Lukas grins. “I’ll hand it to you, Slayer,” he says and as Sehun lowers his sword, Lukas pats him on his shoulder. “You’re good.”

“Who’s next?” Sehun asks, blood pumping through his veins with exhilaration and fire. He isn’t ready to stop now. Before this, he fought for a purpose. But wielding sword for fun is adrenalizing and thrilling on a whole new level.

Diarmid steps forward, clenching his jaw as hard as he is clenching his sword.

“That’s enough,” Alexius orders as he pushes through the crowd. Diarmid glowers, but he falls back. “Get back to work, all of you.”

The crew disperses and Alex smiles at Sehun.

“Fits in your hand like it’s made just for you,” he says, nodding his head at the sword. “Well, it was made just for you.”

“I cannot thank you enough for everything you’re doing for me, Alexius,” Sehun says. “And all for the affection you had for my brother.”

Alexius lets out a laughter. “It is more than that. But you must admit, we would both do anything for our affection for him.”

Sehun sighs as he retreats to a corner and leans against the edge. Alexius settles beside him. “You knew him,” he says to Alex. “You knew that he was… abused. Why hadn’t you done anything about it?”

Alex blinks. “I tried to. I asked him to go away with me to Triyan. He said that his place was in Havegnia and he made it clear then I didn’t mean much to him. He was only using me, Sehun. To get to where he is right now.”

“Do you… still want him after what I told you?”

Alex exhales heavily. “I want him. But not like this. Believe it or not, I care for him. And if there’s a way to save him, I will go to any length.”

Sehun gazes up at the velvety night sky and then looks to the calming sea. _What if he doesn’t want to be saved,_ he thinks to himself.

“Come dine with me,” Alex invites him. “We have a lot to discuss.”

~*~

After dinner, Sehun finds himself ambling across the deck, where he finds men devouring honey melons and quaffing meads. Jax is wooing the Queen’s lady-in-waiting with one of his hands up her skirt. Olivar, Lukas, and Kali are playing a game of cards. Tei is busy gossiping about his adventures with a girl in Havegnia. Diarmid is nowhere to be found.

Sehun slips into one of the ship compartments upon catching a whiff of the sickly sweetness of mangoes. The room is dark and warm as he climbs down to it.

He smiles to himself when he finds a basketful of mangoes.

“Do you still love mangoes?” comes a voice from the darkness and Sehun turns around with a start.

He looks at Kai’s shadowy figure perched on one of the lower shelves. Kai picks up the sword he has been sharpening with a whetstone and examines its black blade. His eyes then cunningly dart to Sehun.

“They’re hard to come by,” Kai says. “You’d ask me to sneak you some from the kitchen.”

Sehun doesn’t recall the memory all too clearly, but he hasn’t had a mango since he had run away from the castle.

Kai sheathes his sword and rises from the shelf before slowly crossing the storage room. With only a few feet separating them, Kai raises a hand to Sehun’s neck. Sehun almost blenches and retaliates, but he freezes in place when Kai gently caresses the gold collar around Sehun’s neck.

“You should take that off,” Kai mutters under his breath. He lets his fingers linger on Sehun’s neck for a moment before he drops his hand to his side. The air stops around them as Kai mellowly stares into Sehun’s eyes. Then in a low whisper, he says, “The greatest value isn’t found in golds and silvers.” He closes the distance between them. Sehun parts his lips to softly pant for air as he feels the warmth of Kai’s breath on his face. “You tried to kill me,” he accuses. His voice is a low growl. In the dark, Sehun searches for his reflection in Kai’s eyes. “I punished you for it. Death is the penalty for attempted assassination in Havegnia. So, tell me.” He lifts a hand to fist Sehun’s shirt by the chest. “Why aren’t you dead?”

Sehun’s breathing quickens. “Why aren’t I?” he asked in a trembling whisper.

“You said that I was at your mercy,” Kai mutters. “That I’ve always been at your mercy. The truth is,” he says, leaning in just enough so that his breath could graze Sehun’s lips. “you wouldn’t last a day when I’m gone. And ironically, I will last for as long as you do.” His grip on Sehun’s shirt loosens and he moves his hand to a side of Sehun’s neck. “I am glad that’s our fate.”

He pulls away but stops when Sehun seizes his arm.

“Let him go,” Sehun pleads quietly. “Everything can be better if you just… gave up.”

Kai frowns. “If I gave up, Havegnia will fall. And you with it.”

“That’s not true,” Sehun says. “You don’t know that. This isn’t your life. You stole another.”

Kai scoffs, pulling his arm free. “Like I said. You see what you want to see, believe what you want to believe.” He splays his fingers on Sehun’s chest and shoves him back.

Sehun groans as his back slams against a shelf.

Kai then pins Sehun to the shelf, raising his hands to block Sehun. “Is this sympathy? Or tactic?” Kai asks, almost pressing his body against Sehun’s.

“What are you talking about?” Sehun mutters nervously.

“The way you look at me now. Are you… pitying me?” he snorts.

Sehun keeps quiet as he lowers his gaze. His heart gallops in his chest. Time slows between them suddenly. He lifts his eyes and exhales a shaky breath. “Kiss me,” Sehun blurts out.

Kai stares at him for a length before he looks down to Sehun’s mouth. He then pulls back with a stern, “No.”

Sehun clenches his eyes and gasps silently for air.


	32. Chapter Thirty

“Why wouldn’t you kiss me?” Sehun asks, opening his eyes again to meet Kai’s in the dark. “Was I only appealing to you when I wanted to have your head? When I didn’t want _you_?”

Kai laughs at that. Sehun drops his head in horror. _What am I saying…_

“You… want _me_?” Kai shakes his head. “You are more ill than I thought. Perhaps determined, too. But I will not fall for that. False affections I’ve already seen plenty.”

Sehun blinks. “That’s it? You think that I am tricking you?”

Kai’s eyes narrow as the smile dies from his lips. He closes the gap as his hand flings up to clutch at Sehun’s neck above the gold collar, slamming Sehun’s back against the shelves. “I know of your little alliance with Alexius and Tia. I am no fool either to believe your advances and sudden change of feelings.”

 _No, you_ are _a fool, Kai._

“Sudden?” Sehun spits. “Count the times you’ve… touched me. And tell me that not once have you _truly_ ever wanted me or wanted me to want you.”

Kai purses his lips, eyebrows crunching into a scowl. He then releases Sehun’s neck with a shove that smashes the back of Sehun’s head on the edge of the shelf. “You just want to have your beloved brother back,” he scoffs and turns his back to Sehun, running a hand through his hair.

“I want you, too,” Sehun says, voice breaking. “ _You_.”

Kai drops his hand to his side, shoulders squared. But he does not move otherwise. Then in a low voice, he asks, “What does that mean?”

“You are also… my brother,” Sehun lets out, taking a step closer to Kai. “I am… sorry… you didn’t get a chance.”

He slowly raises a hand to Kai’s back. He feels the shoulder blade tense when his fingers touch it. But Kai does not blench away.

“No,” Kai says through his teeth and turns around, grabbing Sehun’s wrist. “You loved _him_. You want _me_ dead.”

Sehun winces as Kai grips at his wrist. “And that upsets you?” He yanks his wrist free and steps closer, bringing a hand to Kai’s chest to fist his shirt there. “You’re right. I loved my brother. He was my _world_. And I spent so many years destructing myself, thirsting for _his_ blood. _You_ had made me hate the one person I cherished more than anything. But why can’t you see that I would have cherished you just as much if…” he trails off, hand tightening around Kai’s shirt.

“If what? If only our mother hadn’t killed me the moment I was born?” Kai snorts. “She killed her child because she thought he’d bring hell to earth. Has he now?” He latches his hands to the sides of Sehun’s waist and swings him against a post. Then pressing their bodies together, he growls down at Sehun. “I’m about to.”

Sehun’s breathing shallows. He can almost feel Kai’s heartbeat against his chest.

“You would have hated me all the same even if she hadn’t killed me,” Kai then huffs, eyes boring into Sehun’s. “So, save your pity if this isn’t part of your ploy to destroy me.”

The damn clothes do little to besiege Kai’s body heat from radiating onto Sehun. Kai’s damn hands, on the other hand, are clutching at Sehun’s waist demandingly. Any closer and Kai will be able to feel Sehun’s rapidly throbbing knob in his pants.

Kai is right. Sehun is sick. A degenerate pervert that wants to fuck his dead half-brother.

“Why do you ask me to kiss you?” Kai asks under his breath, his predatory gaze lowering to Sehun’s parted and panting lips now.

“Why wouldn’t you is a better question, considering _everything_ that you’ve already done to me,” Sehun counters, splaying his fingers on Kai’s steadily heaving chest. “A kiss will not kill you when no sword could.”

There is silence. Something shifts in Kai’s eyes. Sobriety is relinquished for a daze. He loosens his grip on Sehun’s waist as one of his hands climb up to lightly cup a side of Sehun’s face. He stops to thumb a scar on Sehun’s cheek, studying it with intent, as though he were mesmerized by it. Sehun almost leans into the touch before Kai’s hand moves to grip his jaw instead.

Then leaning towards Sehun’s mouth, Kai whispers, “This one will.”

With that, he pulls away and climbs out of the storage room.

Sehun catches his breath, resting his head against the post. He tries to curb his unseemly thoughts, put them on a leash, and never revisit them. What is he doing? He wants his brother back. He wants to get rid of the _Ka_. But more than anything right now, he wants to feel Kai’s skin warmth, see Kai break apart in his arms, concede defeat and for once, cry for help. He is no monster. But he also does not belong in this realm. He must be defeated and Sehun is the only one who can free his brother. The only family he has left.

However, these convoluted and inconceivable feelings he has developed for the brutal man, who had killed his father, tortured him, and ruined him in ways Sehun never saw coming, are starting to cloud his judgments.

He has acquired quite the taste for pain and torture. He scoffs at his own twisted thought. And there is no greater pain and torture than those that come with Kai.

~*~

 

The next day entails a long, tedious session with one of Alexius’ preceptors, who traps Sehun in a boring lecture about Triyanian mannerisms and politics. Sehun does, however, learn that marriage can be many things in Triyan. Even children can be married. It is nothing but an institution than binds two or more people legally to share the benefits of it. Such as reduced taxes, shared accommodation, easier travelling to kingdoms that are recognized by the Triyanian Kingdom. Sehun’s marriage to Alexius will not be one of the “romantic” kinds. In fact, the preceptor makes it clear to him that it is not common for men in Triyan to marry other men for romantic purposes and it is not endorsed. It comes as somewhat of a relief to Sehun.

At the end of the lesson, he imparts to Alex that Sehun is a student worse than a slave from Antanhia and that he is better off shepherding cows in Triyan.

Of course, Alex tells Sehun to not to take it personally and that most Triyanians are mouthy and insulting when it comes to foreigners.

At least the rest of the day Sehun engages in friendly duels with the Six Irons, except Diarmid, who continues to regard him with contempt and threatful scowls from where he sits, whetting his blades.

As the evening falls, Sehun retires from the swordfight and joins Diarmid by the barrels of mead. “Good evening,” he greets, to which Diarmid responds with a boorish grunt as he resumes with the whetting. Sehun looks up at the churning grey clouds. “Looks like a storm’s coming our way.”

Diarmid does not reply.

Sehun sighs. “I know that you think Tia and I are sweet on each other,” he says and Diarmid freezes, finally looking up at Sehun. “But we only care about each other. There is nothing going on between us and you need not see me as an enemy or a threat. I am not marrying her brother while fancying her.”

Diarmid grimaces. “I still cannot digest the fact that Alexius is _marrying_ you.”

“It’s a marriage of convenience and it is apparently not unpopular in Triyan.”

Diarmid pins him with a black look. “I know. I was saying that because… you’re you.”

Sehun shakes his head, trying not to take offence. If he were Diarmid, he’d find this whole arrangement just as ridiculous. “I just wanted you to know that you don’t need to look at me like I’m a villain. If anything, I think Tia fancies you, too.”

Diarmid shoots up to his feet. “Keep your mouth shut, Slayer.”

“Diarmid.” They both hear Alex’s voice before they see him walk up to them. Throwing an arm over Diarmid’s shoulders, Alex says, “He’s my prospective consort. I would talk to him with some respect if I were you.”

“No, you don’t have to,” Sehun says nervously. It is bad enough that Diarmid already hates him. Alexius does not have to swoop in to save Sehun like he is some damsel in distress on the account of only aggravating Diarmid’s grievances further. “I am fine, Prince Alexius. He was not trying to slight me.”

Alex exhales heavily and pats on his companion’s back. “A storm’s brewing. Go see the preparations for it,” he orders Diarmid.

Nodding his head and glowering, Diarmid stomps away.

“Don’t do that,” Sehun says to Alex once Diarmid is out of earshot.

“Do what?” Alex plays coy with a smirk.

“That. He already hates my guts. Don’t choose me over him.”

“I didn’t,” Alex says, curling an arm around Sehun’s waist. “I was simply asking him to treat you with the same respect you give him. Come on.” He ushers Sehun towards the captain’s cabin. “Dine with me and let’s see if you remember how to eat like a civil man.”

 

~*~

 

Sehun sits up on the edge of his bed and looks up at the lantern that swings in the direction the boat sways with the perturbed waves in the storm. Thunders quake all that hears them as lightnings continue to split the night into insignificant fragments.

He rises from the bed and wobbles to the basin before splashing some cold water on his face. He will get no sleep in this storm, though he knows the Six Irons will have no trouble sleeping through war.

Leaving his new sword behind, he meanders his way out of the cabin and holds onto the wall as the ship rocks violently.

When he reaches Kai’s cabin, he pauses for a moment to suck in a few deep breaths. He knows he is seeking trouble himself. But he also cannot stop himself. He will always go seeking for the familiarity Kai offers. And that familiarity knows not the evil or the good.

He does not knock as he lets himself into the cabin. It is dark, save for the sudden curses of lightning that allow for some brightness through the window. Sehun stumbles over something hard and curses under his breath.

He eventually finds his way to the bed, which Kai fortunately does not share with Tia. During dinner in Alex’s cabin, Tia had sworn that she would rather die than spend a single moment in bed with Kai. However, Sehun shamefully couldn’t share her sentiment for that he wants nothing more than to share a bed with him.

He feels drunk from all the wine he had quaffed at the dinner. And the rocking ship certainly doesn’t help the last silvers of his gravitas. He clumsily crawls into the bed and grabs Kai’s shirt by the arm to turn him around.

“What the…” Kai begins in a hoarse, drowsy voice as Sehun climbs on top of him, straddling Kai’s hips, pressing his hands to Kai’s chest to hold him down before he lowers to sit on Kai’s abdomen. “Sehun?”

Kai lifts his hands from the mattress but fumbles, unsure of where to place them. He then settles to wrap them around Sehun’s forearms.

“You are _asking_ to be killed, aren’t you?” Kai mumbles coarsely as Sehun bows his head, dragging his hands down Kai’s chest.

“No,” Sehun purrs, fingers fumbling to undo the fly of Kai’s pants. “I’m asking for something worse.” He leans forward and brushes his lips to Kai’s ear. “Didn’t you always say that there some things worse than death? Show me.”

Kai seizes Sehun’s hands as they attempt to grope his cock. “You are drunk. And imagine the scandal if the Crown Prince of Triyan’s consort-to-be is found in such a compromising position with his brother-in-law.”

“Haven’t I already been in worse positions than this with you?” Sehun drawls, struggling to free his hands from Kai’s grip. “Or would you rather it was the Crown Prince of Triyan on top of you?”

It is too dark for Sehun to discern Kai’s face. He just assumes Kai is smirking smugly right now as his grip loosens around Sehun’s hands.

“Why are you making things so hard when I’m trying to make them easy for you?” Sehun whimpers, eyes falling heavy.

“And speaking of hard things,” Kai scoffs before he brings a hand to Sehun’s crotch and mercilessly clenches Sehun’s hardened and aching cock. “If this isn’t part of scheme, tell me why you’re here.”

“Why don’t you want me to leave you?” Sehun shoots back, involuntarily rocking his hips when the boat seesawed. He hears Kai grunt softly their cocks grind against each other. “You said it. The other night.”

“You’re a whole new pain in the arse now,” Kai groans and grabs Sehun’s waist before tossing him onto the bed. He then sits up to pull his boots on while Sehun stirs drowsily on the mattress.

“Wait, don’t go,” Sehun rasps breathlessly, grabbing onto Kai’s shirt at the back. Slowly releasing the shirt, Sehun presses his palm to Kai’s back and draws it along the spine. “Do you really find me beautiful?” he asks in a whisper that is possibly smothered by the storm. “Like… this?”

Kai is silent. His breathing is steady as ever. He then turns his head halfway around and looks at Sehun. “Will your beloved brother find you beautiful like this?”

It strikes Sehun with a pang. _No, he wouldn’t,_ Sehun thinks. His brother will be horrified to see what sort of a monster, a murderer Sehun has turned into. The sweet innocent child he had raised, hungering for vengeance and lusting after his half-brother.

Kai shifts his weight on the mattress as Sehun drops his hand from Kai’s back. “You get to choose only one of us,” Kai then mutters before he rises from the bed and storms out of the cabin.

Sehun buries his face into Kai’s pillow and inhales his scent as he slowly loses his consciousness.

* * *

**[The Windrunner's Startrail](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14309067) **

 


	33. Chapter Thirty-One

The Triyan Palace is substantially larger and more ornate than the castle in Havegnia. As the carriage rides across the drawbridge, Sehun gazes out the carriage window and gawks at the majestic architecture. Triyan, unlike Havegnia, is muggy with heat. Though the palace appears to be flashy and extravagant, the city the carriage passed through earlier lacks such embellishments. In fact, most of the buildings seem derelict and worn out.

“You seem nervous,” Alexius comments and Sehun turns his gaze to the Triyan Prince’s gentle smile. “Do not be, if you are.”

Sehun licks his lips. “I have… never met the Triyan King.”

“You have,” Alexius says. “As a very young child. I do not expect you to remember the horrors of meeting my father.”

The Prince’s smirk is in no way a comfort. Truth be told, Sehun isn’t sure what has his stomach in knots. Compared to what he’s been through and has been put through, this is a child’s play. It does not even matter. He has his freedom now, although it does not bring him the relief he thought it would. He has forgone the thirst to avenge his parents, believing that they were monsters worse than Kai is. Now, every move he takes with Alexius is a step closer to bringing his only family back to him. His brother.

And that would mean destroying the _Ka_ that resides in Kai.

Perhaps that’s what makes Sehun nervous.

As the carriage stops, Alexius opens the door and steps out. Sehun follows, sucking in a deep breath. Behind them, another carriage halts and Kai exits it, extending a hand to Tia, who takes it. She quickly withdraws her hand and walks away from Kai to join her brother’s side.

“It’s good to be home,” she says as Alexius presses a kiss to her temple before she starts ahead of them.

Alex then looks at Sehun. “Are you ready?” he asks.

Sehun curls a hand around his new sword that hangs at his hip. “As I’ll ever be.”

Smiling, Alex ushers him towards the entrance.

“Does… Tia know?” Sehun asks in a low voice, something he’s been meaning to ask for a very long time. “I… suppose she doesn’t. But I was wondering…”

Alexius arches an eyebrow at him. “Know what?”

Sehun briefly glances over to the portraits on the hallway walls. “You and Kai,” he mutters.

“Of course, she doesn’t,” Alex replies in hushed tones. “Not about us back then, not about us now.”

Sehun looks back at Alexius. “There’s… still a _now_?”

That has Alex smirking with complacency. “Is that jealousy I hear?”

Sehun blinks and shakes his head. “That’s utter nonsense.”

Alexius laughs. “You have the right to be jealous. You _are_ my consort.”

Sehun isn’t sure if he’s jealous of Kai or Alexius, if he is jealous at all. “There’s something else I’ve been wondering. If… we manage to save Kai somehow…” He pauses to look back to make sure that Kai is not within earshot. He isn’t with the Six Irons separating them. “will he… Do you think he will harbour the same affection he had for you?”

“Are you asking if he’ll still be in love with me when we get rid of the _Ka_?”

Sehun purses his lips and glances at the flower vases for a moment. “Yes,” he murmurs.

“I will not lie, Sehun. I hope with all my heart that he is. But it’s been… so many years. He could have fallen in love with others. He could harbour feelings for them all.”

Frowning, Sehun bites his tongue.

“How about a friendly bet?” Sehun hears Olivar say behind him.

“What bet?” Tei replies.

“I bet the King won’t approve.”

“I’ll take that bet,” Tei scoffs. “We all know how persuading Alex can be.”

“This is it,” Alexius says as they stop outside the throne chamber.

As soon as they enter the chamber, Sehun’s eyes dart to the man filling the throne. He lifts a hand to halt Tia, who approaches him.

“Father,” she says and stops.

“Where is he?” the Triyan King demands as his voice echoes through the throne chamber.

Tia grips her jaw and bows her head before glancing back. Sehun follows her gaze and sees Kai striding past the Six Irons and the rest of the guards with a conceited smirk plastered on his face.

The Triyan King rises from his throne, grinning from ear to ear. “There he is!”

“King Olfor,” Kai calls and stops at the dais, dropping to one of his knees.

“Oh, rise,” the Triyan King grabs Kai’s shoulders and pulls him up. “Kings don’t bow to each other.”

“You are still my elder,” Kai says, smiling. “And my father-in-law.”

The Triyan King guffaws, clapping his hands on Kai’s arms. “Can you tell I’ve missed my son-in-law?!” he declares, embracing Kai roughly. “My daughter,” he then says, turning to Tia. “Tiara, come here, darling.”

He climbs down the dais and draws his daughter into one arm while keeping the other curled around Kai’s shoulders. “Father, I had missed you,” Tia says as her father kisses her forehead.

“Still no grandchildren for me?” the Triyan King asks.

“You do have grandchildren, Father,” Alexius interrupts and the King finally turns his attention to him. His eyes then flit to Sehun.

For a moment, he does not look away. The man is old, most of his face covered with a grey beard. He has Alexius’ eyes.

“Ah… Alex,” the man says through his teeth.

“Father,” Alex says and raises a hand to the small of Sehun’s back, steering him forward. “I’d like you to meet Sehun, my… prospective consort I’m hoping you would assent to.”

“Sehun?” the King echoes. “The name sounds… familiar.” He pulls away from Kai and Tia and approaches Sehun. “This… is the one you wish to remarry?” he asks Alex, though he keeps his eyes fixated on Sehun.

Stopping a few feet before Sehun, he stares at Sehun’s face and grimaces.

“He’s a… Slayer,” Alexius says. “He _was_. His… skills are almost unmatched, Father.”

The Triyan King glares at Alex, then. “If you want a Slayer for his skills, add him to your band of companions. Why marry him?”

Alex gnaws at his lip for a second. “I wish to marry him, Father. I…” He glances to Sehun. “I like him.”

His father snorts. “You _like_ this… this… thing?”

“Father—”

“Your children need a mother. Or at least a competent consort. Not a trained killer.”

“Your Majesty,” one of Alexius’ preceptors, who has been grooming Sehun, steps forward and bows. “If I may speak, Your Majesty.” Once the King has given him permission, the preceptor says, “This… man here is very competent in his own fields. The children will also benefit from his knowledge and prowess. Besides, the Prince can always take another consort, even another Queen. As you, my King, your son is also entitled to as many consorts as he wishes.”

The Triyan King grinds his teeth, glowering at Sehun. “You were always one to collect rare items, Alex,” he tells his son. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” With that, the King turns to Kai. “I am certain the journey must have been wearisome. Please, do get some rest and we will meet at dinner.”

Kai nods his head and looks over the Triyan King’s shoulder to smirk at Alexius and then at Sehun.

~*~

After a long bath and a brief nap, Sehun is summoned to join the others in the feast hall for supper. A guard accompanies him, leading the way to the hall.

“Congratulations,” Sehun hears Kai’s voice before he turns around to see Kai joining his side, hands clasped at his back and with a smug smile. “You will be marrying Prince Alexius of Triyan pretty soon. From a Vagabond Slayer to a Triyan housewife.” He scoffs.

Sehun looks ahead, gripping his jaw. “Better than being _your_ slave.”

“Well, that is not what you were saying when you were in my cabin at the ship, begging me to fuck you.”

Sehun scowls at him. “I did not beg you to…” he trails off, shaking his head. “What is your problem? You are bitter about losing me or losing Alex?”

Kai cocks a brow. “Losing _Alex_?”

“I know you like him. You wouldn’t get down on your knees for him if you didn’t.”

Kai is silent for a moment as he surveys Sehun’s face. Then he snickers. “You are jealous.”

“I am not. Can everyone stop saying that?”

“You never liked sharing me with anyone,” Kai chuckles. “You were always… very possessive.”

“Not of you,” Sehun mutters grouchily.

“Ah, yes. Not of _me_. But of your dear, heroic brother.” He rolls his eyes. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I only sucked Alex’s cock so that you wouldn’t have to. Your brother did love him. Too much for his own good.” He shrugs.

Sehun glances at him. “And… you?”

Kai laughs. “I love nobody. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m _heartless_.” With a smirk, he brushes past Sehun and walks ahead. Taking in a few deep breaths, Sehun follows.

When they reach the feast hall, King Olfor welcomes Kai with an embrace and offers the seat on the other end of the table. Alexius curls an arm around Sehun and directs him towards his seat.

“Papa!” a girl cries in excitement, bursting into the feast hall.

“Kelina!” Alex rasps and lowers to his knees to accept the girl into his arms. “Where’s your brother?”

“He’s coming—”

“Papa!” a boy, almost identical to the girl, races into Alexius’ arms.

“Ah, there are my darlings,” Alex hums, kissing their puffy cheeks. “Did you miss me?”

“Oh, so much, Papa,” his daughter mewls. “Have you brought us back gifts as usual?”

“Yes. Diarmid will give them to you later. But… I have another present for you.” He rises to his full height and turns to Sehun.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Sehun walks over to them. He hates this. He is a monster to those children. He does not want to see the horror in their eyes, too.

“Kelina, Kriyen, this is Sehun. Your… new combat instructor and my consort,” Alex introduces.

Sehun licks his lips and waits for the children to scream in fear or something. But they don’t. They look at Sehun in confusion if not curiosity.

“Consort?” the little girl asks. Neither of the children must be more than seven. “You’re getting married, Papa?”

“That’s what having a consort means, my love,” Alex says, stroking her beautiful blond hair. His children look up at Sehun again.

“Why does your face look like that?” the boy, Kriyen, asks, tilting his head to the side.

Sehun drops to his knees. “I… got them from my training,” he says. “They’re scars.”

The boy’s eyes widen. “From blades?”

“Yes, from blades.”

“Whoa,” Kriyen lets out in awe. “That is awesome.”

Sehun smiles to himself and stands up. “You have lovely children,” he tells Alex as they return to the table.

“They take after their mother,” Alex says, shrugging. “By the way,” he adds, lowering his voice. “we leave tonight to see the pythoness.”

“Tonight?” Sehun repeats in surprise.

“Yes.” Alex turns to his children again. “You probably do not recognize Aunt Tia and… Uncle Kai.”

“King Kai!” Kriyen gasps, gawking up at Kai, who raises an eyebrow at the kid. “The coolest King of all the realms! You have won so many battles! I read stories about you all the time!”

“That’s nice, kid,” Kai mutters and picks up the winecup to sip from it.

“Is it true that you invincible and undefeatable?” the boy asks in wonder, clinging onto the armrest of Kai’s seat. Kai stares at the boy for a moment.

“Sure,” he says smugly.

“Did you really single-handedly kill all of the Peluviyen army?”

“That’s enough, Kriyen,” Alex chides and lifts the boy to his lap. “And no one is invincible in this world. We’re all mortals.” His gaze lingers a moment too long on Kai, who is staring at Sehun.

“And when mortals try to become God, their undoing is inevitable,” Tia adds.

Kai shifts his cool gaze from Sehun to his wife.

“Enough of this pointless chitchat,” King Olfor says. “Tell me, Kai. What are the current state of affairs in Havegnia?”

 

~*~

 

“Are you certain this is safe?” Tia whispers as they dismount their horses. Alexius grabs hold of the reins and ties the horses to a tree.

“No one is following us. Not even the Six Irons know about this,” Alex reassures her.

Sehun draws his cowl down and glances around the forest. It is too dark for him to see anything until Alex lights a torch. “Does the pythoness live in a cave?” he asks as he trudges after Alexius.

“Yes,” Alex mutters. “What were you expecting?”

“Actually, a cave.”

Alex smiles at Sehun. “It’s safest for us to visit her in the dead of the night. Attracts less attention.”

“How did you… write to her?”

“My homing pigeon. Of course, I did not write to her directly. There was a middleman.”

“Ah. That explains everything.”

“Do you think Father suspects anything?” Tia inquires.

“He is far too concerned with figuring out why I want to take Sehun as my consort to be paying attention to anything else.”

“Except Kai,” Sehun says. “I didn’t think… he would be fawning over Kai.”

“It’s hard to admire another King who’s as accomplished as Kai.”

“You almost sound like  _you’re_ in love with him, brother,” Tia says, scoffing. “If by accomplished you mean monstrous, then I agree with you.”

Sehun fidgets with the cloak, taking cautious steps over the roots. “I’m just thinking out loud here,” he says. “Apart from… his sadistic fixations and overly agonizing punishments, what has Kai done?”

He has tried contemplating it himself. Kai is not an unkind king to his people. The people are happy with him in the throne. Apart from being selfish and brutish, what makes Kai a monster to Tia?

“Has he… done anything to you?”

Tia keeps mum for a length. “What do you mean, Sehun? He’s an evil spirit, inhabiting your brother’s body, crushing his very soul as we speak. What do you mean what he’s done?”

“Yes, but before you knew all of this. What made you detest him?”

“Everything. I never wished to be married to him.”

“And yet you did,” Sehun says, frowning. “Your father… does not seem like an unreasonable man. Are you sure he wouldn’t have listened if you had told him that you did not want to marry Kai?”

Tia glared at him. “My father wanted power. And marrying me to Kai gives him more power. You saw how he reveres Kai.”

“But I still think—”

“Enough,” Alex calls out to them. “We’re here.”

Sehun comes to a stop and looks ahead at the mouth of the cavern. “Do you really believe she can help us?” he asks Alex.

“She’s our only hope for the time being. We have no other option. Come on.”

The air turns heavy and cold as they enter the cavern, watching their every footstep. Alexius keeps a steady hand on Tia’s back, telling her to be careful.

“So, you came,” comes a female voice, echoing against the walls of the cavern. “I see the evil among you but not the subject you told me about.”

Sehun blinks in confusion, though he is quickly diverted by the woman who emerges from the darkness of the cave, wearing a long, frizzy white hair that reached her ankles. She is unclothed, her skin wrinkled with time, her eyes as white as pearls.

“You are the pythoness,” Tia says.

“You know who I am, I know who you are. Why are you here?” she asks.

“We believe,” Alex begins. “there is a spirit… a malicious one inhabiting the body and soul of someone we love.”

“Have you brought him here?” she says, looking up at Alex.

“We… thought it would be better if you told us how we should bring him here. He’s not an easy man.”

“A spirit you say,” she drawls, walking around a dead pyre. “Did it possess a corpse or a living body?”

“A living body. At least that’s what we think. It has made him… stronger. Unassailable almost.”

Sehun steps forward. “They’re twin brothers,” he says, and the pythoness looks at him. He swallows nervously. “He was murdered by his own mother when he was… when he was just… born. She had him buried. But she gave birth to Kai. My half-brother. We suspect it’s the older brother who was killed that’s possessing him now.”

The pythoness looks intrigued. “Now, now. That’s a totally different matter.” She pauses for a moment. “They are related. They shared the same womb for moons only to be separated at birth. They have been _one_. They _are_ one. Taking one of them away again will spawn _many_ consequences.”

“Please,” Sehun begs. “There must be something you can do to save my brother.”

“And what of the brother your mother already killed once?”

Sehun lowers his gaze. “He does not belong in the living world.”

“Is that what… you really want?”

“I want my brother back,” he states firmly. “Can you help or not?”

The pythoness regards him with a knowing look. “He would be weakened. He will not be the same. You must deal with the consequences if the only thing that’s keeping him strong is the spirit of his dead kin.”

“What should we do?” he asks.

“Bring him here. Wrists cut off with his veins. Weakened. Bled. On the verge of death but don’t let him die. Bring him to me while he’s hands are incapable, his soul is dying, his heart is weak. I will revive your brother for you.”

Sehun glances back at Alex and Tia.

~*~

“What are we going to do?” Tia asks anxiously as they enter the stables to hitch their horses. “How will we even near Kai? The sleeping drug did not work on him. We cannot risk poisoning him either, not that he is stupid enough to fall for that.”

“Calm down,” Alex tells her, stroking the neck of his horse. “We’ll think of something. But at least now we know that there might be a way.”

Sehun pulls his cloak off and rifles his fingers through the horse mane before turning around and facing Alexius. “I might know how,” he mutters, words barely surpassing a whisper.

Alexius’ eyebrows furrow. “How?”

Sehun licks and chews on his lip. Then gulps. “Wrists cut off with veins. Bleed him. I will… try.” He starts past Alex and stops when the Prince seizes his arm.

“Don’t be stupid, Sehun,” he hisses. “You’ve already lost your fight with him. What makes you think he’ll lose to you now?”

Sehun meets Alex’s eyes. “Because I know he will.” He pulls his arm free and walks away, clenching his hands at his sides.

As he wends his way up into the palace, his heart thunders against his ribs, his blood drumming in his ears. His head spins lightly as he lays a hand over the grip of his sword.

When he arrives at one of the guest chambers Kai occupies, he raises a fist to knock on the door. He should be asleep at this ungodly hour. But the door opens immediately.

Sehun takes a moment to muster Kai from top to toe. He hasn’t been sleeping. His shirt is unlaced and sagging at his shoulders. He reeks of wine.

“Can I come in?” Sehun asks in a low voice.

Kai does not respond instantly. He stares at Sehun for a long minute instead before he holds the door open and lets Sehun in. “What are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be in your own room, worrying about your marriage to—”

With a hand raised to the back of Kai’s head to clutch at his hair, Sehun cuts him off, smashing their mouths together. The world quietens around them, their ragged, unsteady breathing the only noise to be heard apart from the soft slides of their lips against one another.

Sehun thinks he could die. Kai’s lips are as warm as he remembers. He half expects Kai to push him away or drive his blade through his skull.

But Kai closes his eyes instead, sliding his fingers into Sehun’s hair to pull him close. He pulls back from the kiss for a heartbeat before crashing their lips together once more to deepen the kiss, cupping a side of Sehun’s face with one hand while the other fisted itself around Sehun’s hair.


End file.
